Keres

1. Greekhuman sciencesThe goddesses of death, specifically cruel and violent deaths, including death in battle, by accident, murder or ravaging disease. They numbered in the thousands and were the daughters of Nyx and Erebus, and the sisters of Thanatos and Hypnos. Their Roman counterparts were the Letum or the Tenebrae.

comparative more Keres · superlative most Keres

1. Of or pertaining to the Keres Pueblo people or language of New Mexico.

plural Kereses

1. collectivecountablein pluraluncountableAn indigenous Pueblo people of New Mexico that speak the Keres language.
2. countableAn individual member of these people.

   1 more example

   When a Keres dies, a priesthood supervises the burial, not the clan. Members are summoned to the corpse with an offering of corn meal held out in the left hand, routinely associated with the dead (Stevenson 1894, 143). The body is washed by kinswomen, and dressed by kinsmen, who also bury it. Four days after burial, the priesthood handling the funeral returns to the deceased's home to send the breath-heart back to Iatiku (Corn Mother), an alter ego of both U and T, at ShipopU (White 1962, 307). Death is called the birth into ShipopU (Stevenson 1894, 143). In all, death has manly associations through the left hand, priesthoods, and involved rituals.

   2007, Jay Miller, Keresan Pueblos and Chaco Canyon Speculations on Language Identity, Puebloan Cultures, and Southwestern Prehistory, archived from the original on 15 Aug 2025, page 54

1. uncountableThe language or language family traditionally spoken by the Keres Pueblo people.