mortuary
noun/ˈmɔːtʃəri/
/ˈmɔːrtʃueri/
(plural mortuaries)
- a room or building, for example part of a hospital, in which dead bodies are kept before they are buried or cremated (= burned)
- They put the body in the hospital mortuary.
- He works at the public mortuary.
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- (North American English) (British English funeral parlour, US English also funeral parlor, funeral home North American English, British English)a place where dead people are prepared for being buried or cremated (= burned) and where visitors can see the body compare morgue
Word Originlate Middle English (denoting a gift claimed by a parish priest from a deceased person's estate): from Latin mortuarius, from mortuus ‘dead’. The current noun sense dates from the mid 19th cent.
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mortuary