tomb
see also: Tomb
Etymology

From Middle English tombe, toumbe, borrowed from Old French tombe, from Latin tumba from Ancient Greek τύμβος, probably from Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂-.

The verb is from Middle English tomben.

Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /tuːm/
  • (America) IPA: /tum/
Noun

tomb (plural tombs)

  1. A small building (or "vault") 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; a grave.
    • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene v]:
      As one dead in the bottom of a tomb.
  3. One who keeps secrets.
    • 1912, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, The Brothers Karamazov, published 1880, Book III, chapter 4:
      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.
Translations Verb

tomb (tombs, present participle tombing; simple past and past participle tombed)

  1. (transitive) To bury.

Tomb
Etymology

Perhaps a variant spelling of Tom, with excrescent -b.

Proper noun
  1. Surname.



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