exhume

[ ig-zoom, -zyoom, eks-hyoom ]

verb (used with object)

, ex·humed, ex·hum·ing.

1. to dig (something buried, especially a dead body) out of the earth; disinter.
2. to revive or restore after neglect or a period of forgetting; bring to light:

   to exhume a literary reputation; to exhume old letters.

exhume

/ ˌɛkshjʊˈmeɪʃən; ɛksˈhjuːm /

verb

1. to dig up (something buried, esp a corpse); disinter
2. to reveal; disclose; unearth

   don't exhume that old argument

Derived Forms

• exˈhumer, noun
• exhumation, noun

Other Words From

• ex·hu·ma·tion [eks-hy, oo, -, mey, -sh, uh, n], noun
• ex·humer noun
• unex·humed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of exhume¹

1400–50; late Middle English < Medieval Latin exhumāre, equivalent to Latin ex- ex- ¹ + humāre to inter

Word History and Origins

Origin of exhume¹

C18: from Medieval Latin exhumāre, from Latin ex- ¹+ humāre to bury, from humus the ground

Example Sentences

Many of these exhumed space rocks come from between Mars and Jupiter, but those of a rarer pedigree are lunar meteorites, ones that some scientists say, hail from the dark side of the moon.

From Popular-Science

The stepmother calls the police, who exhume the bodies—and, naturally, have a lot of questions.

From Time

We’ve also asked the United Nations to deploy investigators and forensic anthropologists to exhume the numerous mass graves in DRC to collect and preserve evidence.

From Time

One by one, the graves have been exhumed, the remains analyzed and identified with advances in DNA technology and science.

From Time

Experts from the Harvard laboratory of geneticist David Reich extracted DNA from the bones of 29 people exhumed from the cemetery more than 40 years ago for a road project and identified five, maybe six, family groups.

From Washington Post

A team of scientists is set to exhume the former Palestinian leader's body on Tuesday in order to find out.

From The Daily Beast

Exhume , to dig out of the ground, or in the case of a fossil, to take out of its place of burial in the rock.

From Project Gutenberg

When a tribe quits one place to reside at another, they exhume the bones of their relations, and take them with them.

From Project Gutenberg

At last he shut the book, and, laying it down, proceeded to exhume a morning coat.

From Project Gutenberg

Deprived of the requisite authority, it was unable to do more than exhume the old laws on the matter and ordain new ones.

From Project Gutenberg

It is from among its ruins that the wondering fellah and explorer of to-day exhume the gorgeous relics of its past.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• disclose
• resurrect
• unearth