burial
nounUK /ˈbɛɹi.əl/ · US /ˈbɛɹi.əl/
Etymology From Middle English biriel, a backformation from biriels, which was re-interpreted as a plural, itself from from Old English byrġels, from byrġan (“to bury”) + -els. By surface analysis, bury + -al, but originally unrelated to this suffix.
1
The act of burying; interment; placing remains into the earth.
- His whole family was present at his burial.
- The mourners listened as the priest performed the burial service of long-time parishioner Wendy Stuart.
2 more examples
- A dreary year for the Squadron, this 1819, when officers and men fell sick by the shipload and were sent home by the tenderful, when Lemon Valley Hospital was supplemented by the one at High Peak, when Court-Martials were held at the rate of one a fortnight, burials thrice a week, and surveys on foul provisions every other day!1912, George Leo de St. M. Watson, Sir Robert Thomas Wilson, A Polish Exile with Napoleon, page 276:
- However, many Cromlechs and Dolmins are carelessly called "Druid's circles", when in reality they were the burial places of ancient chieftains and their households[.]1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 206:
- Derived terms
- burial at sea, burial case, burial chamber, burial ground, burial mound, burial place, burial plot, burial site, burial society, burial stone, green burial, heart-burial, mass burial, multiburial, natural burial, preburial, primary burial, reburial, secondary burial, ship burial, sky burial, tree burial, unburial, wind burial