Definitions

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

  • transitive verb To remove from a grave; disinter.
  • transitive verb To bring to light, especially after a period of obscurity.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To dig out of the earth, as something, especially a dead body, which has been buried; disinter.

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

  • transitive verb To dig out of the ground; to take out of a place of burial; to disinter.

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

  • verb To dig out of the ground; to take out of a place of burial; to disinter.

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

  • verb dig up for reburial or for medical investigation; of dead bodies

Etymologies

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

[French exhumer, from Medieval Latin exhumāre : Latin ex-, ex- + Latin humus, ground; see dhghem- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin ex and humāre ("to bury")

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word exhume.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.