Adjacent Words

Charnel definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CHARNEL, a. Containing flesh or carcasses.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: gruesomely indicative of death or the dead; "a charnel smell came from the chest filled with dead men's bones"; "ghastly shrieks"; "the sepulchral darkness of the catacombs" [syn: charnel, ghastly, sepulchral] n
1: a vault or building where corpses or bones are deposited [syn: charnel house, charnel]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French carnel, charnel, probably alteration of charner, from Medieval Latin carnarium, from Latin carn-, caro flesh — more at carnal Date: 14th century a building or chamber in which bodies or bones are deposited — called also charnel house • charnel adjective

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Charnel Char"nel, a. [F. charnel carnal, fleshly, fr. L. carnalis. See Carnal.] Containing the bodies of the dead. ``Charnel vaults.'' --Milton. Charnel house, a tomb, vault, cemetery, or other place where the bones of the dead are deposited; originally, a place for the bones thrown up when digging new graves in old burial grounds.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Charnel Char"nel, n. A charnel house; a grave; a cemetery. In their proud charnel of Thermopyl[ae]. --Byron.