Definition of cerement in English:

noun

• Waxed cloth for wrapping a corpse.

  Example sentences

  • ‘In an early scene, Hamlet begs the ghost to tell ‘Why thy canoniz'd bones… Have burst their cerements.’’
  • ‘More dramatic yet is the tomb of General William Hargrave, also in Westminster Abbey, by Louis - Francois Roubiliac, in which the deceased is shown breaking free of his cerements, apparently already confident of his salvation.’
  • ‘To be cured we we must rise from our graves and throw off the cerements of the dead.’
  • ‘The coffin was forced, the cerements torn, and the melancholy relics, clad in sackcloth, after being rattled for hours on moonless byways, were at length exposed to uttermost indignities before a class of gaping boys.’

  Synonyms

  winding sheet, grave clothes, burial clothes, cerements, chrisom

  View synonyms