Bur"i*al (?), n. [OE. buriel, buriels, grave, tomb, AS. byrgels, fr. byrgan to bury, and akin to OS. burgisli sepulcher.]

1.

A grave; a tomb; a place of sepulture.

[Obs.]

The erthe schook, and stoones weren cloven, and biriels weren opened. Wycliff [Matt. xxvii. 51, 52].

2.

The act of burying; depositing a dead body in the earth, in a tomb or vault, or in the water, usually with attendant ceremonies; sepulture; interment.

"To give a public burial."

Shak.

Now to glorious burial slowly borne. Tennyson.

Burial case, a form of coffin, usually of iron, made to close air-tight, for the preservation of a dead body. -- Burial ground, a piece of ground selected and set apart for a place of buriials, and consecrated to such use by religious ceremonies. -- Burial place, any place where burials are made. -- Burial service. (a) The religious service performed at the interment of the dead; a funeral service. (b) That portion of a liturgy which is read at an interment; as, the English burial service.

Syn. -- Sepulture; interment; inhumation.

 

© Webster 1913.