Word of the Day

: June 28, 2010

sepulchre

noun SEP-ul-ker

What It Means

1 : a place of burial : tomb

2 : a receptacle for religious relics especially in an altar

sepulchre in Context

"The distant noises in the streets were gradually hushed; the house was quiet as a sepulchre; the dead of night was coffined in the silent city." (Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit)

Did You Know?

"Sepulchre" (also spelled "sepulcher") first appeared in Middle English around the beginning of the 13th century. It was originally spelled "sepulcre," a spelling taken from Anglo-French. Like many words borrowed into English from French, "sepulchre" has roots in Latin. In Latin, "sepulchre" is "sepulcrum," a noun that is derived from the verb "sepelire," which means "to bury." "Sepultus," the past participle of "sepelire," gives us -- also by way of Anglo-French -- the related noun "sepulture," which is a synonym for "burial" and "sepulchre."