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columbarium

[ kol-uhm-bair-ee-uhm ]

noun

, plural col·um·bar·i·a [kol-, uh, m-, bair, -ee-, uh].
  1. a sepulchral vault or other structure with recesses in the walls to receive the ashes of the dead.
  2. any one of these recesses.


columbarium

/ ˌkɒləmˈbɛərɪəm /

noun

  1. another name for a dovecote
  2. a vault having niches for funeral urns
  3. a hole in a wall into which a beam is inserted
“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


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Word History and Origins

Origin of columbarium1

1840–50; < Latin: literally, a nesting box for pigeons, equivalent to columb ( a ) pigeon, dove + -ārium -ary
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Word History and Origins

Origin of columbarium1

C18: from Latin, from columba dove
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Example Sentences

Space also is being carved out to build a columbarium and a scatter garden, where people can distribute ashes of their loved ones, Thomas said.

Grace, a lawyer, and fellow Holy Trinity parishioner Jack Brady, an architect, proposed building a columbarium at Holy Rood.

Thus they looked somewhat like the little entrances to a pigeon-house, and hence the name of Columbarium.

As the niche was like a dove's nest in shape, it was called a "columbarium," the whole tomb a "columbaria."

So as she still sat with shining eyes, dreaming again of that columbarium, I pressed to the next point.

Columbarium, literally a pigeon-house—a Roman sepulchre built in many compartments.

I well remember dreaming that I was a disused columbarium which had been converted into a brewery and was used as a greenhouse.

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