Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Charnel"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Charnel \Char"nel\, a. [F. charnel carnal, fleshly, fr. L.
carnalis. See {Carnal}.]
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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Charnel \Char"nel\, n.
A charnel house; a grave; a cemetery.
In their proud charnel of Thermopyl[ae]. --Byron.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
charnel
adj : gruesomely indicative of death or the dead; "a charnel smell
came from the chest filled with dead men's bones";
"ghastly shrieks"; "the sepulchral darkness of the
catacombs" [syn: {ghastly}, {sepulchral}]
n : a vault or building where corpses or bones are deposited
[syn: {charnel house}]
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