tomb - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Governor John R. Tanner's tomb

From Middle English tombe, toumbe, borrowed from Old French tombe, from Latin tumba from Ancient Greek τύμβος (túmbos, “a sepulchral mound, tomb, grave”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- (“to swell”).

The verb is from Middle English tomben.

tomb (plural tombs)

  1. A small building, or a room within one, for the remains of the dead, with walls, a roof, and (if it is to be used for more than one corpse) a door. It may be partly or wholly in the ground (except for its entrance) in a cemetery, or it may be inside a church proper or in its crypt. Single tombs may be permanently sealed; those for families (or other groups) have doors for access whenever needed.
    Synonyms: burial chamber, sepulchre, vault
    Coordinate term: grave
  2. (loosely) A pit in which the dead body of a human being is deposited.
    Synonym: grave
  3. One who keeps secrets.
  4. Death (literary)
    I'll go to the tomb unrepentant.

small building or vault for the remains of the dead

pit in which the dead body of a human being is deposited — see also grave

tomb (third-person singular simple present tombs, present participle tombing, simple past and past participle tombed)

  1. (transitive) To bury.

Deverbal from tombar.

tomb m (plural tombs)

  1. turn (change of direction)
  2. turn, twist (movement around an axis)
  3. turn (change of temperament or circumstance)
  4. walk, stroll

tomb (plural tombes)

  1. alternative form of tombe (“tomb”)

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