sepulchre

plural sepulchres · alternative sepulcher

1. A burial chamber.

   Near-synonym: crypt

   5 more examples

   By Mahomet, my Kinſmans ſepulcher, And by the holy Alcaron I ſweare, […]

   c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii

   He is knight dubb'd with vnhatche'd Rapier, and on carpet conſideration, but he is a diuell in priuate brall, soules and bodies hath he diuorc'd three, and his incenſement at this moment is ſo implacable, that ſatisfaction can be none, but by pangs of death and ſepulcher: Hob, nob, is his word: giu't or take't.

   c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], page 269

   Woe vnto you Scribes and Phariſees, hypocrites, for yee are like vnto whited ſepulchꝛes, which indeed appeare beautifull outward, but are within full of dead mens bones, and of all vncleanneſſe.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 23:27, signature C3, verso, column 2

   [I]n the reign of Henry the Second, a body happening, by chance, to be dug up near Glastonbury Abbey, without any symptoms of putrefaction or decay, the Welch, the descendants of the Ancient Britons, tenacious of the dignity and reputation of that illustrious hero [King Arthur], vainly supposed it could be no other than the body of their justly-boasted Pen-Dragon; and that he had been immured in that sepulchre by the spells of some powerful and implacable inchanter.

   1810, J[ohn] Stagg, “Arthur’s Cave. A Legendary Tale.”, in The Minstrel of the North: Or, Cumbrian Legends. […], London: Printed by Hamblin and Seyfang, […], for the author, and sold by J. Blacklock, […], →OCLC, page 105

   Nor was it the human form alone which we had placed in this eternal sepulchre, whose obsequies we now celebrated.

   1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter VIII, in The Last Man. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 253

   Synonyms: tomb, vault, crypt

2. historicalChristianityA recess in some early churches in which the reserved sacrament, etc. was kept from Good Friday till Easter.

present singular third person sepulchres · participle present sepulchring · participle past sepulchred · past sepulchred · alternative sepulcher

1. transitiveTo place in a sepulchre.

   And so sepulchred in such pomp dost lie That kings for such a tomb would wish to die.

   1630, John Milton, On Shakespeare

   1 more example

   Not one of the ordinary motives—the vanity or the selfishness which people call by the name of love—actuated her through this long trial; she had everything to fear, and nothing to expect. What creation of the poet ever exceeded this terrible reality of love sepulchred in this living tomb?

   1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXVIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 298–299