charnel Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a vault or building where corpses or bones are deposited
    charnel house.
  2. adjective satellite gruesomely indicative of death or the dead
    sepulchral; ghastly.
    • a charnel smell came from the chest filled with dead men's bones
    • ghastly shrieks
    • the sepulchral darkness of the catacombs

WordNet

Char"nel adjective
Etymology
F. charnel carnal, fleshly, fr. L. carnalis. See Carnal.
Definitions
  1. Containing the bodies of the dead. "Charnel vaults." Milton.
Char"nel noun
Definitions
  1. A charnel house; a grave; a cemetery.
    In their proud charnel of Thermopylæ. Byron.

Webster 1913