ashes

/ (ˈæʃɪz) /

pl n

ruins or remains, as after destruction or burning: the city was left in ashes
the remains of a human body after cremation

Words Nearby ashes

British Dictionary definitions for Ashes (2 of 2)

Ashes

/ (ˈæʃɪz) /

pl n

the Ashes a cremated cricket stump in a pottery urn now preserved at Lord's. Victory or defeat in test matches between England and Australia is referred to as winning, losing, or retaining the Ashes

Origin of Ashes

from the mock obituary of English cricket in The Times in 1882 after a great Australian victory at the Oval, in which it was said that the body would be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use ashes in a sentence

Warm milk mixed with a spoonful of fireplace ashes seemed to also be popular among 19th century England.
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“At one point they were going to perform a burial ceremony with the ashes,” he says.
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In the not-so-distant future, an independent country, which belongs to Kurds, will rise from these wants, pains, fire and ashes.
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ashes & Fire, a pleasant, folky, water-treading effort, followed in 2011.
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The Oberhausen aquarium erected a memorial of the psychic octopus with a golden urn containing his ashes.
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He thrust the Cardinal's mantle into it, and stood over the smouldering cloth, till the whole was consumed to ashes.
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The Seneschal stood with blanched face and gaping mouth, his fire all turned to ashes before the passion of this gaunt man.
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Bridgewater, Mass., invaded by the Indian enemy, and 17 buildings laid in ashes.
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He stirred the smoldering ashes till the broiled fowl began to sizzle afresh.
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The boy took a piece of wood and covered it with a paste made of ashes and oil.
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