burial
/ˈbɛrɪəl
/noun [mass noun]
1The action or practice of burying a dead body: his remains were shipped home for burial...
- They are also charged with preventing or conspiring to prevent the lawful and decent burial of a dead body.
- Tamil cremate or bury the dead, with burial being more common among lower castes.
- Instead, Creon is guilty of a religious sin by denying burial to a dead man's body.
1.1 [count noun] A ceremony at which someone’s body is buried; a funeral: they will give him a proper burial [as modifier]: burial rites...
- It was when I was living in Washington nearly 20 years ago that I first heard about the curious American habit of conducting burials without bodies.
- These funeral homes and modern burials just don't compete.
- I have been forced to fix a personal quota of funerals if I am not to be on the move to and from burials and funeral parlours all year long.
Synonyms
burying, interment, committal, inhumation;
entombment;
funeral, obsequies, funerary rites
rare sepulture, exequies
1.2 [count noun] Archaeology A grave or the remains found in it: [as modifier]: burial mounds...
- Because of this not all the earth had been put back into the grave at the time of the burial, so it seems likely that a small burial mound or barrow surmounted the grave.
- Our comparisons also suggest that the types of grave artifacts included with burials were partly related to age and location.
- Pagan burial mounds on the Isle of Man have revealed the grave of a Viking warrior.
Origin
Old English byrgels 'place of burial, grave' (interpreted as plural in Middle English, hence the loss of the final -s), of Germanic origin; related to bury.