morgue
Americannoun
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a place in which bodies are kept, especially the bodies of victims of violence or accidents, pending identification or burial.
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a reference file of old clippings, mats, books, etc., in a newspaper office.
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the room containing such a reference file.
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any place, as a room or file, where records, information, or objects are kept for unexpected but possible future use.
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such records, information, or objects.
noun
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another word for mortuary
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informal a room or file containing clippings, files, etc, used for reference in a newspaper
noun
Etymology
Origin of morgue
1815–25; < French; name of building in Paris housing unidentified dead bodies
Explanation
Most hospitals have an area called a morgue, where dead bodies are stored until they are buried or cremated. After a person dies, that person's body is often placed in a morgue until it can be transported to a funeral home, church, or temple for a memorial service or funeral. Occasionally, a body needs to be identified by relatives, and that often happens in a morgue as well. Another word for morgue is mortuary. The word comes from the French La Morgue, which was one specific building in 1800s Paris. It replaced the much more blunt term "dead house."
Vocabulary lists containing morgue
Al Capone Does My Shirts
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While the World Watched
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English Words Derived from French, List 6
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
She is a regular guest on BBC podcast After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds and the Paranormal, and her first non-fiction book, Morgue, will be published in the UK and US in 2027.
From BBC • Oct. 10, 2025
County’s Hospital and Morgue Program, as well as 40 hours of community service, the D.A.’s Office said.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 2, 2024
The agency also transported one of three Disaster Portable Morgue Units – some 22.5 tons of supplies and equipment to set up a fully functioning mortuary, including examination tables, x-ray machines and fingerprinting equipment.
From Reuters • Aug. 20, 2023
His body was taken to the Vanderburgh County Morgue where an autopsy was completed.
From Fox News • Dec. 29, 2021
I started noticing all these frightening things in Margaret’s house: creepy masks, old swords, books with titles like The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Skull and the Hatchet.
From "Walk Two Moons" by Sharon Creech
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
