morgue

morgue
\ \ [19] The original Morgue was a Parisian mortuary where unidentified corpses were displayed for visitors to try and put names to faces (a process described in gruesome detail by Émile Zola in Thérèse Raquin 1867). Its name is presumed to be a reapplication of an earlier French morgueroom in a prison where new prisoners were examined’, which may ultimately be the same word as morguehaughty superiority’ (used in English from the 16th to the 19th centuries). Morgue was first adopted as a generic English term for ‘mortuary’ in the USA in the 1880s.

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • morgue — 1. (mor gh ) s. f. 1°   Contenance sérieuse et fière. •   Morgue de magistrat rébarbatif, sévère, Qui ne dément jamais son grave caractère, DUFRÉNY Mar. fait et rompu, I, 2. 2°   Orgueil et suffisance. •   T ai je tracé la vieille à morgue… …   Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré

  • morgué — morgué, ée 1. (mor ghé, ghée) part. passé de morguer1. 1°   À qui on fait la morgue. Morgué par un fat. 2°   Qui fait la morgue. •   Monseigneur paraissait rêveur et morgué, SAINT SIMON 271, 156. •   Je vis mettre le roi à table, il me sembla… …   Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré

  • Morgue — ist ein älterer Begriff für ein Leichenschauhaus (auch englisch the morgue und französisch la morgue); ein Gedicht von Rainer Maria Rilke in Neue Gedichte (1907); Morgue und andere Gedichte ist der Titel der ersten Lyriksammlung von Gottfried… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • morgue — (n.) mortuary, 1821, from Fr. Morgue, originally a specific building in Paris where bodies were exposed for identification: There is, in the most populous part of the French metropolis, an establishment entitled La Morgue, destined for the… …   Etymology dictionary

  • morgue — [mo:g US mo:rg] n [Date: 1800 1900; : French; Origin: Morgue, name of a morgue in Paris] 1.) a building or room, usually in a hospital, where dead bodies are kept until they are buried or ↑cremated = ↑mortuary 2.) a place that has become very… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • Morgue — Morgue, n. [F.] 1. A place where the bodies of dead persons are kept, until they are identified, or claimed by their friends; a deadhouse. [1913 Webster +PJC] 2. (Newspapers) A room containing reference files of older material in a newspaper… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Morgue — [mɔrk], die; , n [ mɔrgn̩; frz. morgue, urspr. = Raum im Gefängnis, in dem die Identität der Häftlinge überprüft wird, viell. zu älter: morguer = mit Hochmut behandeln]: Leichenschauhaus (in Paris) …   Universal-Lexikon

  • morgue — / mȯrg/ n: a place where the bodies of persons found dead are kept until identified and claimed by relatives or released for burial or autopsy Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996 …   Law dictionary

  • Morgue — [mɔrg] die; , n [ mɔrgn̩] <aus gleichbed. fr. morgue> Leichenschauhaus [in Paris] …   Das große Fremdwörterbuch

  • morgue — [ mɔrg ] noun count a building or room where dead bodies are kept temporarily like a morgue OFTEN HUMOROUS without much noise or activity …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • morgue — sustantivo femenino 1. Área: medicina Depósito de cadáveres: Los cuerpos de las víctimas fueron trasladados por orden judicial a la morgue …   Diccionario Salamanca de la Lengua Española

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