funeral door

noun

a door to the hall or foyer from the parlor to allow for the movement of caskets; from the time when the wealthy would host their wakes and funerals in their own homes. It is a supplementary door to the main doors of the front parlor. The funeral door existed to allow for the dead to move through doors without needing to use the doorways used by the living.

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Meanings

nounfuneral door (plural funeral doors)

plural funeral doors

  1. USarchitecturea door to the hall or foyer from the parlor to allow for the movement of caskets; from the time when the wealthy would host their wakes and funerals in their own homes. It is a supplementary door to the main doors of the front parlor. The funeral door existed to allow for the dead to move through doors without needing to use the doorways used by the living.

Origin

From funeral + door from being a door used for funerals.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

funeral door. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/funeral%20door

MLA

“funeral door.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/funeral%20door. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “funeral door,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/funeral%20door.

Source: funeral door on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.