| 1. | a person, usually a licensed embalmer, who supervises or conducts the preparation of the dead for burial and directs or arranges funerals. |
| 2. | a person who owns or operates a funeral home. |
| funeral director n. One whose business is to arrange for the burial or cremation of the dead and assist at the funeral rites and who is usually an embalmer. Also called mortician, undertaker. |
mor·ti·cian  (môr-tĭsh'ən)  n. See funeral director. [Latin mors, mort-, death; see mortal + -ician.] |
"The word 'mortician' is a recent innovation due to a need felt by undertakers for a word more in keeping with, and descriptive of, their calling." ["Literary Digest," Jan. 16, 1915]
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