tomb

Governor John R. Tanner's tomb

From Middle English tombe, toumbe, borrowed from Old French tombe, from Latin tumba from Ancient Greek τύμβος (túmbos, “a sepulchral mound, tomb, grave”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- (“to swell”).

The verb is from Middle English tomben.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tuːm/
• (US) IPA^(key): /tum/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːm

tomb (plural tombs)

1. A small building (or "vault") for the remains of the dead, with walls, a roof, and (if it is to be used for more than one corpse) a door. It may be partly or wholly in the ground (except for its entrance) in a cemetery, or it may be inside a church proper or in its crypt. Single tombs may be permanently sealed; those for families (or other groups) have doors for access whenever needed.
2. A pit in which the dead body of a human being is deposited; a grave.
   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]:

     As one dead in the bottom of a tomb.

3. One who keeps secrets.
   • 1912, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, The Brothers Karamazov, published 1880, Book III, chapter 4:

     I never told anyone about it. You're the first, except Ivan, of course—Ivan knows everything. He knew about it long before you. But Ivan's a tomb.

• → Irish: tuama
• → Maori: toma

tomb (third-person singular simple present tombs, present participle tombing, simple past and past participle tombed)

1. (transitive) To bury.

Deverbal from tombar.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈtom]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencian) [ˈtomp]
• Homophone: tom (Central)

tomb m (plural tombs)

1. turn (change of direction)
2. turn, twist (movement around an axis)
3. turn (change of temperament or circumstance)
4. walk, stroll

• tomballar
• venir a tomb

• “tomb” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

tomb (plural tombes)

1. Alternative form of tombe (“tomb”)