Charnel
[tʃɑ:nәl]
Definition
(adj.) 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' .
Edited by Ellis--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Containing the bodies of the dead.
(n.) A charnel house; a grave; a cemetery.
Editor: Olivia
Definition
adj. of or pertaining to a charnel or burial-place as in 'charnel-vault ' &c.: sepulchral death-like.—n. Char′nel-house a place where the bones of the dead are deposited.
Typed by Gwendolyn
Examples
- They have dug a hole, and they have found things like flowerpots upside down, Mis'ess Yeobright; and inside these be real charnel bones. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- Now I was led to examine the cause and progress of this decay, and forced to spend days and nights in vaults and charnel houses. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- Already it has done me good: my heart was a sort of charnel; it will now be a shrine. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- I collected bones from charnel houses; and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
Typed by Bernadine