urn
[urn]
- a large or decorative vase, especially one with an ornamental foot or pedestal.
- a vase for holding the ashes of the cremated dead.
- a large metal container with a spigot, used for making or serving tea or coffee in quantity.
- Botany. the spore-bearing part of the capsule of a moss, between lid and seta.
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Origin of urn
1325–75; Middle English urne < Latin urna earthen vessel for ashes, water, etc., akin to urceus pitcher, Greek hýrchē jar
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for urn
Contemporary Examples
The boys remains are supposedly contained in an urn in Westminster Abbey.
The Queen was reportedly in "full agreement" with the church authorities that the urn should not be opened.
Browne wrote hauntingly of the resemblance between the urn and the womb.
Urn Burial is a bedside book, a nightstand book, one that begs to be read in a wind-lashed, lightning-struck manor.
Urn Burial is full of quotations fit for long and moody contemplation.
Historical Examples
You might have taken her for some fairy of the springs who had overturned her urn on herself.
FruitfulnessEmile Zola
At nine o'clock at night he visited the "urn" called the "Sepulchre."
The Eternal CityHall Caine
Urn—yes, I cal'lated that was the idea, probably; but who's goin' to buy it?
Mary-'GustaJoseph C. Lincoln
Let him who is of the contrary opinion deposit his vote in urn No. 2.
HellenicaXenophon
It is in shape like a Greek urn, but has with it a flowing quality—and the whiteness.
The Trimming of GoosieJames Hopper
urn
- a vaselike receptacle or vessel, esp a large bulbous one with a foot
- a vase used as a receptacle for the ashes of the dead
- a large vessel, usually of metal, with a tap, used for making and holding tea, coffee, etc
- botany the spore-producing capsule of a moss
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Word Origin
C14: from Latin ūrna; related to Latin ūrere to burn, urceus pitcher, Greek hurkhē jar
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for urn
n.
late 14c., "vase used to preserve the ashes of the dead," from Latin urna "a jar, vessel," probably from earlier *urc-na, akin to urceus "pitcher, jug," and from the same source as Greek hyrke "earthen vessel." But another theory connects it to Latin urere "to burn" (cf. bust (n.1)).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper