pallbearer
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of pallbearer
Explanation
The sad job of a pallbearer is to help carry the casket at a funeral service or burial. In Western cultures, pallbearers are usually family members or close friends of the person who has died. Traditionally, pallbearers were men, all of whom wore white gloves as a sign of respect for the deceased person. These days, anyone can be a pallbearer. In some Eastern traditions, pallbearers are never members of the family, but instead are paid helpers. The word pallbearer comes from pall, "cloth spread over a coffin," and bearer, or "carrier."
Vocabulary lists containing pallbearer
Fences
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One of Us Is Lying
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The Fault in Our Stars
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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.
The band’s music drew clear inspiration from Black Sabbath and Slayer and influenced subsequent metal acts like Baroness and Pallbearer.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 21, 2025
The actresses met when Paltrow and David Schwimmer, Aniston's Friends co-star, were filming 1996 film The Pallbearer.
From BBC • Aug. 12, 2025
Nowadays, you could have Pallbearer on the cover of XXL and I’d only flinch a little.
From Slate • Dec. 19, 2014
She has shown glimpses of it in earlier work, as Pitt's anxious wife in Seven and as the ultimate prom date in The Pallbearer.
From Time Magazine Archive
First Pallbearer So I have heered it said.
From A Book of Burlesques by Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis)
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.
