Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A place in which the bodies of persons found dead are kept until identified and claimed or until arrangements for burial have been made.
  • noun A reference file in a newspaper or magazine office.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Haughty demeanor; hauteur.
  • noun A place where the bodies of persons found dead are exposed, that they may be claimed by their friends; a dead-house.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A place where the bodies of dead persons are kept, until they are identified, or claimed by their friends; a deadhouse.
  • noun (Newspapers) A room containing reference files of older material in a newspaper office; also, the material contained in such a room.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A supercilious or haughty attitude; arrogance.
  • noun A building or room where dead bodies are kept before their proper burial or cremation.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a building (or room) where dead bodies are kept before burial or cremation

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from la Morgue, building in Paris used as a morgue, probably from morgue, haughty manner, from Old French morguer, to look at solemnly, from Vulgar Latin *murricāre, to make a face, from *murrum, muzzle.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French morgue. The second sense developed from the first, via "a prison examination room", probably with reference to the haughty attitude of the jailers.

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Examples

  • The drab but pain-filled room at Baghdad's morgue is a stark reminder of how much this country still suffers.

    POLITICAL HOT TOPICS: November 16, 2009 2009

  • The morgue is receiving a minimum of 60 bodies a day and sometimes more than 100, a morgue employee told IPS on condition of anonymity.

    Think Progress » Central morgue in Baghdad can’t keep up with workload. 2006

  • It's a good thing, too, because the morgue is pretty much overrun by this point - and our protagonists are trying to fight their way out.

    After Sundown moriarty6 2006

  • TUCHMAN: After meeting Denise, we called morgue officials, who this week notified Denise Herbert that one of their unidentified bodies was, indeed, her mother.

    CNN Transcript Feb 11, 2006 2006

  • TUCHMAN: After meeting Denise, we called morgue officials, who this week notified Denise Herbert that one of their unidentified bodies was, indeed, her mother.

    CNN Transcript Feb 11, 2006 2006

  • TUCHMAN: After meeting Denise, we called morgue officials, who this week notified Denise Herbert that one of their unidentified bodies was indeed her mother.

    CNN Transcript Feb 10, 2006 2006

  • What the hell, I wasn't busy and it sounded fun, so I called the morgue, talked to the city desk and ended up writing a ten-grapher.

    Hacker - Death at the Member-Guest Bartlett, James Y. 2004

  • A place she’d never really thought about until last night, when her tiny baby slipped from her into the grim-looking doctor’s hands and she heard him whisper the word morgue.

    Sea Escape Lynne Griffin 2010

  • A place she’d never really thought about until last night, when her tiny baby slipped from her into the grim-looking doctor’s hands and she heard him whisper the word morgue.

    Sea Escape Lynne Griffin 2010

  • Bill sat at the table, his own appetite gone, stung by Ken’s use of the word morgue.

    Healing After the Suicide of a Loved One Ann Smolin 1993

Comments

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  • hola. I found this word in the Bradenton Herald local section, A man threating her with a knife telling her she will end up in the morgue soon.

    September 30, 2010