tomb
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//tuːm//
- United States//tum//
- //ʈumb//
A small building, or a room within one, for the remains of the dead, with walls, a roof, and (if it is to be used for more than one corpse) a door. It may be partly or wholly in the ground (except for its entrance) in a cemetery, or it may be inside a church proper or in its crypt. Single tombs may be permanently sealed; those for families (or other groups) have doors for access whenever needed.
noun
- 1
A small building, or a room within one, for the remains of the dead, with walls, a roof, and (if it is to be used for more than one corpse) a door. It may be partly or wholly in the ground (except for its entrance) in a cemetery, or it may be inside a church proper or in its crypt. Single tombs may be permanently sealed; those for families (or other groups) have doors for access whenever needed.
- 2
A pit in which the dead body of a human being is deposited.
As one dead in the bottom of a tomb.
- 3
One who keeps secrets.
I never told anyone about it. You're the first, except Ivan, of course—Ivan knows everything. He knew about it long before you. But Ivan's a tomb.
- 4
Death (literary)
I'll go to the tomb unrepentant.
Etymology
From Middle English tombe, toumbe, borrowed from Old French tombe, from Latin tumba from Ancient Greek τύμβος (túmbos, “a sepulchral mound, tomb, grave”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- (“to swell”). Displaced native Old English þrūh. The verb is from Middle English tomben.
verb
- 1
To bury.
Forms
- plural
- tombs
- past tense
- tombed
- past participle
- tombed
- present participle
- tombing
- third person singular
- tombs
tomb · A small building, or a room within one, for the remains of the dead, with walls, a roof, and (if it is to be used for more than one corpse) a door.…
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