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morgue

/mɔrg/
/mɔg/
IPA guide

Other forms: morgues

Most hospitals have an area called a morgue, where dead bodies are stored until they are buried or cremated.

After a person dies, that person's body is often placed in a morgue until it can be transported to a funeral home, church, or temple for a memorial service or funeral. Occasionally, a body needs to be identified by relatives, and that often happens in a morgue as well. Another word for morgue is mortuary. The word comes from the French La Morgue, which was one specific building in 1800s Paris. It replaced the much more blunt term "dead house."

Definitions of morgue
  1. noun
    a building (or room) where dead bodies are kept before burial or cremation
    synonyms: dead room, mortuary
    see moresee less
    types:
    crematorium, crematory
    a mortuary where corpses are cremated
    funeral chapel, funeral church, funeral home, funeral parlor, funeral parlour, funeral-residence
    a mortuary where those who knew the deceased can come to pay their last respects
    type of:
    building, edifice
    a structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place
Pronunciation
US
/mɔrg/
UK
/mɔg/
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