pallbearer definitions

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: one of the mourners carrying the coffin at a funeral [syn: pallbearer, bearer]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: ²pall Date: 1707 a person who helps to carry the coffin at a funeral; also a member of the escort or honor guard of the coffin who does not actually help to carry it

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. a person helping to carry or officially escorting a coffin at a funeral.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pallbearer Pall"bear*er, n. One of those who attend the coffin at a funeral; -- so called from the pall being formerly carried by them.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(pallbearers) At a funeral, a pallbearer is a person who helps to carry the coffin or who walks beside it. N-COUNT