morgue

morgue

a place where the bodies of unknown dead persons or those dead of unknown causes are kept to be examined, identified, etc. before burial or cremation
Origin of morgue
so named in ref. to the dead news it contains
the collection of back numbers, photographs, clippings, etc. kept in the office of a newspaper, magazine, etc.

Origin of morgue

Fr, morgue, earlier, identification room of a prison: origin, originally , “haughty air” from dialect, dialectal morre, snout: see moraine

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MLA Style

"morgue." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/morgue>.

APA Style

morgue. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/morgue

morgue

noun

A place in which the bodies of persons found dead are kept until identified and claimed or until arrangements for burial have been made.
A reference file in a newspaper or magazine office.

Origin of morgue

French from la Morgue building in Paris used as a morgue probably from morgue haughty manner from Old French morguer to look at solemnly from Vulgar Latin murricāre to make a face from murrum muzzle

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"morgue." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/morgue>.

APA Style

morgue. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/morgue

Noun

(plural morgues)

A supercilious or haughty attitude; arrogance.
A building or room where dead bodies are kept before their proper burial or cremation.

Origin

Borrowing from French morgue. The second sense developed from the first, via "a prison examination room", probably with reference to the haughty attitude of the jailers.

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.