Adjacent Words

Pyre definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PYRE, n. [L. pyra.] A funeral pile; a pile to be burnt.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: wood heaped for burning a dead body as a funeral rite [syn: pyre, funeral pyre]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Latin pyra, from Greek, from pyr fire — more at fire Date: 1587 a combustible heap for burning a dead body as a funeral rite; broadly a pile of material to be burned <a pyre of dead leaves>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. a heap of combustible material esp. a funeral pile for burning a corpse. Etymology: L pyra f. Gk pura f. pur fire

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pyre Pyre, n. [L. pure, Gr. ?, fr. ? fire. See Fire.] A funeral pile; a combustible heap on which the dead are burned; hence, any pile to be burnt. For nine long nights, through all the dusky air, The pyres thick flaming shot a dismal glare. --Pope.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(pyres) A pyre is a high pile of wood built outside on which people burn a dead body or other things in a ceremony. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Funeral pile.

Moby Thesaurus

backfire, balefire, beacon, beacon fire, blaze, bonfire, burning, burning ghat, campfire, cheerful fire, combustion, conflagration, corposant, cozy fire, crackling fire, cremation, crematory, death fire, fen fire, fire, flame, flashing point, flicker, flickering flame, forest fire, fox fire, funeral pile, funeral pyre, ignis fatuus, ignition, incineration, ingle, lambent flame, marshfire, open fire, prairie fire, raging fire, reduction to ashes, sea of flames, sheet of fire, signal beacon, smudge fire, three-alarm fire, two-alarm fire, watch fire, wildfire, witch fire