charnel

plural charnels

1. A chapel attached to a mortuary.
2. A repository for dead bodies.

   When Lazarus left his charnel-cave, ⁠And home to Mary’s house return’d, ⁠Was this demanded—if he yearn’d To hear her weeping by his grave?

   1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXXI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 50

comparative more charnel · superlative most charnel

1. Of or relating to a charnel, deathlike, sepulchral.

   He murmured to himself with dull despair, Here Faith died, poisoned by this charnel air.

   1874, James Thomson, The City of Dreadful Night

plural charnels

1. historicalPart of a helm, now usually identified as the hinge (near the neck) by which the helm was secured to the breastplate.

   1 Are these the charnels, or pinnacles of helmets? See Meyrick, […]

   1836, Archaeologia: Or Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, page 401

   2 more examples

   The knight did as he was desired, and broke his spear twice on the very charnel of his helmet. It being now Sir William Cecil's turn, each knight charged his spear directly towards the other's head, and galloping on, both lances[…]

   1836, George Payne Rainsford James, Darnley, Or the Field of the Cloth of Gold, page 134

   [page 78:] […] knight being struck on the charnel, a device for attaching the helm to the breastplate […] [page 497:] Most of the knights at this passage of arms were wearing sallets with bevors or armets with wrappers. Here we have a rare exception, since reference to the charnel indicates that Joan de Camós is wearing a helm. Given the effect of this particular spear stroke, it can be inferred that he was struck high on the charnel, near the neck, which would have made him choke or gag.

   2010, Noel Fallows, Jousting in Medieval and Renaissance Iberia, Boydell Press, →ISBN