morgue

noun

ˈmȯrg 

1

: a place where the bodies of dead persons are kept temporarily pending identification or release for burial or autopsy

2

: a collection of reference works and files of reference material in a newspaper or news periodical office

Examples of morgue in a Sentence

old news stories found in a newspaper morgue

Recent Examples on the Web

His body was able to be lifted, placed in a body bag and taken to the local morgue. —Alex Brizee, Idaho Statesman, 11 Apr. 2024

Barney told of one man who identified his wife and four children in the morgue. —Jerome Hansen, Jack Schermerhorn, Ralph Nelson and Ken McCormick, Detroit Free Press, 6 Apr. 2024

The mortality rate of Covid-19 was unknown, but to give just one example of the potential fatality rate, by late March, 2020, New York City was using refrigerated trucks as temporary morgues. —Bill Donahue, Billboard, 20 Mar. 2024

Many of the disappeared are probably among the more than 50,000 unidentified bodies that have been collected since 2006 and are buried in public cemeteries or still stored in morgues. —Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times, 15 Feb. 2024

Outside the city’s morgue, Cheyla Jurado, a street vendor who sells juice and pastries to families waiting to retrieve bodies, said the crowds had visibly thinned. —Annie Correal Federico Rios, New York Times, 7 Feb. 2024

In Gaza, large swathes of which lay in ruin due to Israel's bombing campaign, families resorted to makeshift graveyards dug in empty lots and health workers stored bodies in ice cream freezers as morgues filled up. —Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY, 14 Jan. 2024

But the results are stunning. Since June 2022, more than half of all the bodies that came into the city morgues have tested positive for drugs, and fentanyl showed up in 20 percent of them. —Natalie Kitroeff Meridith Kohut, New York Times, 3 Mar. 2024

My favorite prop from this collection are the death certificates to hand out to each players at the start of the campaign as each character begins play in the city’s infamous morgue. —Rob Wieland, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2024

Word History

Etymology

French

First Known Use

1795, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

morgue

noun

ˈmȯ(ə)rg 

1

: a place where the bodies of the dead are kept temporarily until they are identified or released for burial

2

: a department of a newspaper where reference material is filed

Medical Definition

morgue

noun

ˈmȯ(ə)rg 

: a place where the bodies of dead persons are kept temporarily pending identification or release for burial or autopsy

Legal Definition

morgue

noun

ˈmȯrg 

: a place where the bodies of persons found dead are kept until identified and claimed by relatives or released for burial or autopsy