charnel

3 definitions found

charnel - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Charnel \Char"nel\, a. [F. charnel carnal, fleshly, fr. L.
     carnalis. See Carnal.]
     Containing the bodies of the dead. "Charnel vaults."
     --Milton.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]

  Charnel \Char"nel\, n.
     A charnel house; a grave; a cemetery.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           In their proud charnel of Thermopyl[ae]. --Byron.
     [1913 Webster]

charnel - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  charnel
      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]