What does "charnel" mean?
Charnel: Containing the bodies of the dead. "Charnel vaults." Milton. Charnel house, a tomb, vault, cemetery, or other place where the bones of the dead are deposited; originally, a place for the bones thrown up when digging new graves in old burial grounds.
Additional senses
- 2.A charnel house; a grave; a cemetery. In their proud charnel of Thermopylæ. Byron.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00