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pyre

 [pahyuhr]   Example Sentences Origin

pyre

   [pahyuhr]
noun
1.
a pile or heap of wood or other combustible material.
2.
such a pile for burning a dead body, especially as part of a funeral rite, as in India.
Origin:
1650–60; < Latin pyra < Greek pyrá hearth, funeral pile

Can be confused: buyer, byre, pyre.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Example Sentences
  • Usually, the elder son lights the pyre of wood, which is doused with clarified butter.
  • In part this is because death on the pyre will save the works from becoming worth less as they rot.
  • In our country the funeral pyre is used after death.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
pyre (paɪə)
 
—n
a heap or pile of wood or other combustible material, esp one used for cremating a corpse
 
[C17: from Latin pyra, from Greek pura hearth, from pur fire]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

pyre
1658, from L. pyra, from Gk. pyra "a hearth, funeral pyre," from pyr (gen. pyros) "fire," cognate with O.E. fyr (see fire).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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