Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A heap of combustibles for burning a corpse as a funeral rite.
- noun A pile of combustibles.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A pile or heap of wood or other combustible materials for burning a dead body; a funeral pile.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A funeral pile; a combustible heap on which the dead are burned; hence, any pile to be burnt.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
funeral pile ; a combustible heap on whichcorpses are burned. - noun Any
heap orpile ofcombustibles .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun wood heaped for burning a dead body as a funeral rite
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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A great funeral pyre is built and set ablaze, while his many followers watch.
“Beowulf: A New Verse Translation” by Seamus Heaney (Norton, 2000) « The BookBanter Blog
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A great funeral pyre is built and set ablaze, while his many followers watch.
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If our own funeral pyre is to blaze in triumph above the ashes of a ruined Germany, it will be small comfort that we have destroyed their dreams of conquest.
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The pyre was a single torch burning to its socket, by whose light I saw his face alone.
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The coffin is placed on the pyre, which is lighted by relatives, the occasion being considered one for rejoicing rather than mourning.
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He is actually on the pyre, which is kindled, when the pagan hold Luiserne is stormed by a pirate king, and Vivien is rescued, but sold as a slave.
The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory (Periods of European Literature, vol. II)
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The pyre is the most spectacular of dozens of temporary funeral buildings at the site, a
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(The corpses, followed by the CHILDREN of the slain chieftains, are carried off to the pyre which is kindled within the sight of the persons on the stage.)
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(The corpses, followed by the CHILDREN of the slain chieftains, are carried off to the pyre which is kindled within the sight of the persons on the stage.)
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The bedroom was an inferno now, the bed like a kind of pyre in the centre of it.
bkerr commented on the word pyre
The doomsday device / ultra weapon / awakening macguffin in "The Stars My Destination" / "Tiger! Tiger!" by Alfred Bester.
April 1, 2007