Adjacent Words

sepulchre definitions

	Tweet

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a chamber that is used as a grave [syn: burial chamber, sepulcher, sepulchre, sepulture]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun or sepulcher Etymology: Middle English sepulcre, from Anglo-French, from Latin sepulcrum, sepulchrum, from sepelire to bury; akin to Greek hepein to care for, Sanskrit saparyati he honors Date: 13th century 1. a place of burial ; tomb 2. a receptacle for religious relics especially in an altar II. transitive verb or sepulcher (-chred or -chered; -chring or sepulchering) Date: 1591 1. archaic to place in or as if in a sepulchre ; bury 2. archaic to serve as a sepulchre for

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. (US sepulcher) --n. a tomb esp. cut in rock or built of stone or brick, a burial vault or cave. --v.tr. 1 lay in a sepulchre. 2 serve as a sepulchre for. Phrases and idioms: the Holy Sepulchre the tomb in which Christ was laid. whited sepulchre a hypocrite (with ref. to Matt.
23:27). Etymology: ME f. OF f. L sepulc(h)rum f. sepelire sepult- bury

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sepulcher Sep"ul*cher, Sepulchre Sep"ul*chre, n. [OE. sepulcre, OF. sepulcre, F. s['e]pulcre, fr. L. sepulcrum, sepulchrum, fr. sepelire to bury.] The place in which the dead body of a human being is interred, or a place set apart for that purpose; a grave; a tomb. The stony entrance of this sepulcher. --Shak. The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher. --John xx. 1. A whited sepulcher. Fig.: Any person who is fair outwardly but unclean or vile within. See --Matt. xxiii. 27.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sepulcher Sep"ul*cher, Sepulchre Sep"ul*chre, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sepulcheredor Sepulchred; p. pr. & vb. n. Sepulcheringor Sepulchring.] To bury; to inter; to entomb; as, obscurely sepulchered. And so sepulchered in such pomp dost lie That kings for such a tomb would wish to die. --Milton.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(sepulchres) Note: in AM, use 'sepulcher' A sepulchre is a building or room in which a dead person is buried. (LITERARY) N-COUNT

Easton's Bible Dictionary

first mentioned as purchased by Abraham for Sarah from Ephron the Hittite (Gen. 23:20). This was the "cave of the field of Machpelah," where also Abraham and Rebekah and Jacob and Leah were burried (79:29-32). In Acts 7:16 it is said that Jacob was "laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem." It has been proposed, as a mode of reconciling the apparent discrepancy between this verse and Gen. 23:20, to read Acts 7:16 thus: "And they [i.e., our fathers] were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor [the son] of Sychem." In this way the purchase made by Abraham is not to be confounded with the purchase made by Jacob subsequently in the same district. Of this purchase by Abraham there is no direct record in the Old Testament. (See TOMB.)

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

sep'-ul-ker (2Ch 21:20; 32:33; Joh 19:41 f; Ac 2:29, etc.).

See BURIAL; JERUSALEM, VIII.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. Tomb, grave, ossuary, charnel-house, burial vault, burial-place, sepulture. II. v. a. Bury, inter, entomb.