Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Necrophaga"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Necrophagous \Ne*croph"a*gous\, a. [Gr. ? eating corpses; ? a
dead body + ? to eat: cf. F. n['e]crophage.] (Zo["o]l.)
Of or pertaining to the {Necrophaga}; eating carrion. See
{Necrophagan}.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Necrophagan \Ne*croph"a*gan\, a. [See {Necrophagous}.]
(Zo["o]l.)
Eating carrion. -- n. (Zo["o]l.) Any species of a tribe
({Necrophaga}) of beetles which, in the larval state, feed on
carrion; a burying beetle.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Bury \Bur"y\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Buried}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Burying}.] [OE. burien, birien, berien, AS. byrgan; akin to
beorgan to protect, OHG. bergan, G. bergen, Icel. bjarga, Sw.
berga, Dan. bierge, Goth. ba['i]rgan. [root]95. Cf.
{Burrow}.]
1. To cover out of sight, either by heaping something over,
or by placing within something, as earth, etc.; to conceal
by covering; to hide; as, to bury coals in ashes; to bury
the face in the hands.

And all their confidence Under the weight of
mountains buried deep. --Milton.

2. Specifically: To cover out of sight, as the body of a
deceased person, in a grave, a tomb, or the ocean; to
deposit (a corpse) in its resting place, with funeral
ceremonies; to inter; to inhume.

Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
--Matt. viii.
21.

I'll bury thee in a triumphant grave. --Shak.

3. To hide in oblivion; to put away finally; to abandon; as,
to bury strife.

Give me a bowl of wine In this I bury all
unkindness, Cassius. --Shak.

{Burying beetle} (Zo["o]l.), the general name of many species
of beetles, of the tribe {Necrophaga}; the sexton beetle;
-- so called from their habit of burying small dead
animals by digging away the earth beneath them. The
larv[ae] feed upon decaying flesh, and are useful
scavengers.

{To bury the hatchet}, to lay aside the instruments of war,
and make peace; -- a phrase used in allusion to the custom
observed by the North American Indians, of burying a
tomahawk when they conclude a peace.

Syn: To intomb; inter; inhume; inurn; hide; cover; conceal;
overwhelm; repress.


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