rebury

verb

re·​bury (ˌ)rē-ˈber-ē How to pronounce rebury (audio)
-ˈbe-rē,
 also  -ˈbər-ē
reburied; reburying; reburies

transitive verb

: to bury (something or someone) again
Museum administrators, too, are anxious about, and at times baffled by, the desire on the part of Native Americans to retrieve and rebury their ancestors' remains.Douglas J. Preston
However in 2011 the federal agency decided to pursue a $28 million plan that calls for barrels with solid waste to be dug up and then reburied on-site in a lined landfill.Michael Cooper

Examples of rebury in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web In 2023, a new state law was passed at the urging of the museum to remove potential barriers to repatriation and allow land to be set aside for reburying the ancestral remains of Native Americans. Mary Hudetz, ProPublica, 2 Feb. 2024 Sometimes squirrels will even excavate and then rebury their nuts. Emma Bryce, Scientific American, 20 Nov. 2023 Lawmakers in Ohio and Illinois passed legislation this year with the aim of removing barriers to repatriation for the museums and tribes alike, while allowing land to be set aside to rebury the thousands of ancestors in each state. Logan Jaffe, ProPublica, 26 Dec. 2023 The Wabanaki tribal nations — an alliance of the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet and Mi’kmaq — wanted to rebury the ancestral remains. Mary Hudetz, ProPublica, 4 Dec. 2023 In the meantime, archaeologists are flagging mummies exposed to elements and reburying them in the soil. Katie Liu, Discover Magazine, 13 Nov. 2023 The account is partially funded by fines for desecrating burial grounds, including for the first time, restitution to cover collecting, cleaning, and reburying remains illegally taken, just as other remains before them had been for centuries. John O’Connor and Melissa Perez Winder, The Christian Science Monitor, 19 Sep. 2023 As a result, tribes have been not only denied opportunities to reclaim and rebury their ancestors, but also excluded from having a say over the treatment of the remains. Mary Hudetz, ProPublica, 20 July 2023 The zoo’s plan is to dig up the graves of 12-15 people and rebury them nearby on the property. Joseph D. Bryant | Jbryant@al.com, al, 21 Aug. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rebury.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1611, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of rebury was in 1611

Dictionary Entries Near rebury

Cite this Entry

“Rebury.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rebury. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

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