morgue

[mawrg]

noun

1. a place in which bodies are kept, especially the bodies of victims of violence or accidents, pending identification or burial.

2. a reference file of old clippings, mats, books, etc., in a newspaper office.

3. the room containing such a reference file.

4. any place, as a room or file, where records, information, or objects are kept for unexpected but possible future use.

5. such records, information, or objects.

morgue

¹

/ mɔːɡ /

noun

1. another word for mortuary

2. informal,  a room or file containing clippings, files, etc, used for reference in a newspaper

morgue

²

/ mɔrɡ /

noun

1. superiority; haughtiness

Word History and Origins

Origin of morgue¹

1815–25; < French; name of building in Paris housing unidentified dead bodies

Word History and Origins

Origin of morgue¹

C19: from French la Morgue, a Paris mortuary

Example Sentences

At a morgue in central Colombia, a young woman mourned her brother, a 16-year-old who was kidnapped by guerrillas and killed in a government bombing last week, she said.

Read more on Barron's

Dr. Zoubi stored the cadavers in the hospital’s morgue for two weeks.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Other footage from within the hospital shows bodies laid out in what appears to be a hospital morgue.

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Lungu’s remains remain at a Pretoria morgue while the family appeals the verdict to the South African constitutional court.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

She and Shawwaf walked a mile to the hospital morgue to pay their respects.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• funeral home