charnel
/ˈtʃɑːn(ə)l
/noun
short for charnel house.Most knights' bones never got into charnels; they were safely enclosed in tombs inside a church....
- The charnel was pulled down after the Reformation.
- Undoubtedly the charnel features had many other meanings to the people who used them, ones that leave no archaeologically identifiable traces.
adjective
Associated with death: I gagged on the charnel stench of the place...
- A charnel stench filled the air and made them recoil in disgust.
- It is argued, based on archaeological and ethnohistoric data, that the layout of the mound, burials, and charnel features is patterned after Native American notions of the cosmos.
- The symbolic suitability of dark and dismal weather, however, is not the main reason Mary Shelley selected this particular month for the nativity of Victor's charnel creature.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French, from medieval Latin carnale, neuter (used as a noun) of carnalis 'relating to flesh' (see carnal).