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relic

relic is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 2 senses. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.The body from which the soul has departed; a corpse; especially, the body, or some part of the body, of a deceased saint or martyr; -- usually in the plural when referring to the whole body. There are very few treasuries of relics in Italy that have not a tooth or a bone of this saint. Addison. Thy relics, Rowe, to this fair urn we trust, And sacred place by Dryden's awful dust. Pope.
  2. 2.Hence, a memorial; anything preserved in remembrance; as, relics of youthful days or friendships. The pearis were split; Some lost, some stolen, some as relics kept. Tennyson.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

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