† vespillon.
Obsolete. rare.
(See quot. 1656.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > disposal of corpse > burial > [noun] > burier > of poor or plague victims
vespillo1631
1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 11 Such as..were of high parentage..were buried in the euening by certaine men who had that charge, who were called Vespillons.
1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments iv. 12 Such..were buried in the night time, by the Vespillons clothed all in white.
1643 Sir T. Browne Religio Medici (authorized ed.) i. §38 By raking into the bowells of the deceased, continuall sight of Anatomies, Skeletons, or Cadaverous reliques, like Vespilloes, or Grave-makers. View more context for this quotation
1656 T. Blount Glossographia Vespilone, he that carries forth dead bodies in the night to be buried, as they use in time of plague and great sickness.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1917; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
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n.1631