Forms: 57 funerall, (5 fynerall, 6 funyralle), 4 funeral. Plural. 57 funeralles, (5 funerales, funeralx, fyneralles, 6 funirals), 67 funeral(l)s. [The adj. is a. OF. funeral, ad. med.L. fūnerāl-is, f. fūner-, fūnus, funeral, death, dead body. The sb. is ad. OF. funeraille (1406 Hatz.-Darm.), collect. fem. sing., ad. med.L. fūnerālia, neut. pl. of the adj. Like many other OF. sbs. in -aille of similar derivation, the word was used in the pl. with the same sense as in the sing. (mod.F. has only the pl. funérailles); this usage was originally followed in English, and continued until the end of the 17th c.]
A. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to the ceremonial burial (or cremation) of the dead; used, observed, delivered, etc., at a burial. Now usually apprehended as an attributive use of the sb. Cf. B. 6.
Funeral-ale (? nonce-wd.) = ARVAL. Funeral column (see quot. 1862). Funeral-house: (a) the house from which a funeral has started, (b) a mortuary. Funeral pall: the pall used to cover the coffin, also fig. Funeral pile, pyre: the pile of wood and other combustibles on which a dead body is burned. † Funeral pot = funeral urn. † Funeral ring: a ring given at or in remembrance of a funeral; a mourning ring. Funeral-toll: the tolling of a bell at a funeral. Funeral urn: the urn in which the ashes were placed after cremation.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.s T., 2006. He wolde make a fyr, in which thoffice Funeral he mighte al accomplice.
1439. E. E. Wills (1882), 115. My byryng & expenses funeralx.
1529. More, Supplic. Soulys, Wks. 328/1. There wer in the funeral seruice at the burying of the corps, the selfe same psalmes songen.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Mark v. 389. The synsyng men that synge vayne funerall songes vnto the deade bodie.
157980. North, Plutarch (1676), 315. [The people] came to touch the Funerall-pot of his ashes.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 84. Is it not lawfull for him to take monie in his cure for preaching funerall sermons?
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., II. v. 117. My sighing brest, shall be thy Funerall bell.
1601. J. Weever, The Mirror of Martyrs, D vj b.
I come to Court and written with me bring, | |
My Swans last funerall dirgee to the king. |
1604. Dekker, Honest Wh., Wks. 1873, II. 4.
If he proceed to vex us, let your swords | |
Seeke out his bowels: funerall griefe loathes words. |
1629. J. Cole, Of Death, 164. After any buriall, the neerest friends returne to the Funerall house.
1638. Sir R. Baker, trans. Letters of Mounsieur de Balzac, I. (vol. II.), 76. All in general have mourned for you, in such sort Sir, that you have had the pleasure to heare your owne Funerall Oration, and to enjoy the continuance of a happy life, after receiving the honours done to worthy men after death.
1648. Bury Wills (Camden), 211. That noe funerall pompe be bestowed at my buriall.
1658. Sir T. Browne, Hydriotaphia, The Epistle Dedicatory. When the Funeral pyre was out, and the last valediction over, men took a lasting adieu of their interred Friends, little expecting the curiosity of future ages should comment upon their ashes.
1683. Lond. Gaz., No. 1789/4. All Persons who shall have occasion for Funeral Rings for time to come.
a. 1693. Urquhart, Rabelais, III. lii. 423. The Fuel of the Funeral and bustuary Fire.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, II. i. The flattery of a funeral sermon.
17567. trans. Keyslers Trav. (1760), II. 315. Though they were equal as to fame and funeral honours, yet their fortunes were very different: Raphaels merit was crowned with success and prosperity, Caracci always met with adverse fortune.
a. 1771. Gray, Desc. Odin, 70. Hoders corse Flaming on the funral pile.
1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, vi. She repaired first to the convent to attend the funeral service.
1804. J. Grahame, The Sabbath, 191.
The funeral-toll, announces solemnly | |
The service of the tomb. |
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), VI. 339. In this case the words of the will were, after payment of my just debts and funeral expences.
1827. Pollok, Course T., IX. 1180. Thousands that sleep Forgotten beneath the funeral pall of Time.
1838. Thirlwall, Greece, III. 131. The praises of Athens were the main topic of every funeral harangue.
1850. Ecclesiologist, X. Feb., 339. It is plain, that vague terms as Burial-House, or Rest-House, or Funeral-House, will never come into vogue, as not practical enough for the practical English mind.
1854. C. F. Alexander, Burial of Moses, v. Poems (1896), 84. But when the warrior dieth, His comrades in the war, With arms reversed and muffled drum, Follow his funeral car.
1862. Dict. Arch. (Arch. Publ. Soc.), Funeral column. The name applied by some writers to a pillar raised instead of a cenotaph; or over a place of sepulture.
1875. Edin. Rev., July, CXLII. 208. It is far more likely that the vow was made at his [Harold Harfagrs] fathers funeral-ale.
2. = FUNEREAL.
1651. Jer. Taylor, Holy Dying, iii. § 6. To converse with his friends and standers by so as may do them comfort, and ease their funeral and civil complaints.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., 226. Many of the Religious Rites and Solemnities, observed by the Pagan Priests, were Mournful and Funeral.
1771. Smollett, Humph. Cl., III. 8 Aug. The firs look dull and funeral.
1814. Byron, The Corsair, II. xvi. Oer which the raven flaps her funeral wing.
B. sb. 1. The ceremonies connected with the burial (or cremation, etc.) of the body of a dead person; obsequies; a burial (or its equivalent) with the attendant observances.
a. 1512. Fabyan, Will, in Chron., Pref. 6. I will that after my funerall that .xii. of the foresaid torches be bestowed as after foloweth.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 257 b. At complyn where shold be remembred the funerall or buryall of that most holy corps.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., III. i. 233.
Do not consent | |
That Antony speake in his Funerall. |
1667. Evelyn, Diary, 3 Aug. Went to Mr. Cowleys funeral, whose corpse was conveyed to Westminster Abbey in a hearse with six horses.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 416, ¶ 2. Melancholy Scenes and Apprehensions of Deaths and Funerals.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, ii. On his return from the funeral, St. Aubert shut himself in his chamber.
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk., I. 300. Funerals in the country are solemnly impressive.
1858. Ld. St. Leonards, Handy-bk. Prop. Law, XXI. 168. You [in the office of an executor] must be careful in your expenditure on the funeral, for if you are not careful, and the assets run short, you may have to pay the greater portion of them yourself.
fig. 1885. Tennyson, To Princess Beatrice. The Mother weeps At that white funeral of the single life, Her maiden daughters marriage.
1894. Westm. Gaz., 29 Aug., 5/2. Next election would see the funeral of party government.
† b. pl. with sing. sense. Obs.
1543. Grafton, Contn. Harding, 475. The duke of Gloucestre kepte the kyng his brothers funeralles.
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D. (Arb.), 88. Some parte of his funeralls let vs here beginne.
1645. Quarles, Sol. Recant., xii. 58. Mourners come to meet Thy tear-bedabled funrals in the Street.
1691. Wood, Ath. Oxon., I. 280. On the 5 of Sept. following, his Funerals were solemnized.
1711. in Molesworth, trans. Hotmans Franco-Gallia (1721), 22. After the Death of King Pipin, Lewis his Son (who had been present at his Fathers Decease, and celebrated his Funerals) kept his Residence at Francfort.
fig. 1589. R. Harvey, Pl. Perc. (1590), 23. I drinke to the funerals of your Enimitie.
1684. Scanderbeg Rediv., iii. 45. Behold, I say, the time which is the Funerals of my Glory.
† 2. pl. The expenses attending a funeral. Obs.
1496. Will of Cely (Somerset Ho.). After that my funerales and dethe be paied.
1590. Swinburne, Testaments, 104. The lawe of this lande leaueth all the residue to the disposition of the testator, funeralles and debts deducted.
a. 1626. Bacon, Max. & Uses Com. Law (1635), 71. If the Executor or Administrator pay debts, or Funerals, or Legacies of his owne money, he may retaine so much of the goods in kinde.
† 3. sing. and pl. A funeral sermon. Obs.
1641. Trapp, Theol. Theol., 193. The fiend preacht Sauls funerall, as one calls it.
1655. Fuller, The Church-History of Britain, IX. iii. § 2. In the absence of Doctor Humfreys designed for that service. Mr. Giles Laurence preached his Funeralls. Ibid. (a. 1661), Worthies, Hereford (1662), 41. I could learn little from the Minister which preached his funeral.
fig. 1621. Crt. & Times Jas. I. (1849), II. 245. I send you here the funerals of the Bohemian affairs, if that be true which the enclosed reporteth.
4. A burial procession.
a. 1745. Swift, Direct. Servants, Chambermaid, Wks. 1824, XI. 443. You are sometimes desirous to see a funeral As they pass by in the street [etc.].
1812. J. Wilson, Isle of Palms, II. 103. A city bell Wailed for a funeral passing to the tomb.
18249. Landor, Imag. Conv., Wks. 1846, I. 320/1. There is no funeral so sad to follow as the funeral of our own youth, which we have been pampering with fond desires, ambitious hopes, and all the bright berries that hang in poisonous clusters over the path of life.
1877. Bryant, Poems, Among the Trees, 45. The funeral goes forth; a silent train Moves slowly from the desolate home.
5. In various indefinite applications: a. death; b. grave; c. monument.
1575. R. B., Appius & Virginia, in Hazl., Dodsley, IV. 149. Winch hast the seed of thine own loin thrust forth to funeral!
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. v. 25. Him deeming dead [he] Fledd fast away to tell his funerall Unto his brother. Ibid. (1591), Ruins of Rome, 37. Rome now of Rome is thonely funerall.
1608. Shaks., Per., II. iv. 32. He lives to govern us, Or dead, give s cause to mourn his funeral.
1668. Denham, Passion of Dido, 199. May he find his funeral I th Sands, when he before his day shall fall.
1705. Stanhope, Paraphr., II. 316. Do not the number of such far exceed the instances of gray hairs, and those funerals, which come by gentle and leisurely decays?
6. attrib. and Comb., as funeral-biscuit, -boat, -cake, -cap, -party, -undertaker.
1882. W. McQueen, Scotch Funerals, in Macm. Mag., XLVI. June, 163/2. I have already referred to what was called the *funeral biscuit, which was seldom eaten by such of the male mourners as had young folks at home.
1884. Henry G. Hewlett, County CharacteristicsSussex, in The Nineteenth Century, XVI. Aug., 329. Funeral biscuits are baked expressly for those who visit the house on the day of interment.
1843. S. C. Hall, Ireland, III. 187. And all in that *funeral-boat repeated whywhywhy?
1884. Chesh. Gloss., *Funeral-cakes, long, narrow, sponge cakes used at funerals. Ibid., *Funeral cups, drinking vessels used at funerals.
1832. E. Ind. Sketch Bk., II. 124. I watched the *funeral-party as they stood in all the pride of their military array.
1707. Earl of Bindon, in Lond. Gaz., No. 4339/3. Divers Abuses have been committed by Painters, *Funeral-Undertakers.