EMBALM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does embalm mean? 

• EMBALM (verb)
  The verb EMBALM has 1 sense:

1. preserve a dead body

  Familiarity information: EMBALM used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EMBALM (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they embalm    ... he / she / it embalms   
Past simple: embalmed   
Past participle: embalmed   
-ing form: embalming   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Preserve a dead body

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "embalm" is one way to...):

conserve; keep up; maintain; preserve (keep in safety and protect from harm, decay, loss, or destruction)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "embalm"):

mummify (remove the organs and dry out (a dead body) in order to preserve it)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

embalmer (a mortician who treats corpses with preservatives)

embalmment (preservation (of a dead body) by treating with balsams and drugs and other chemicals)

 Context examples 

A person who treats dead bodies with embalming fluid (a chemical like formaldehyde) to keep them from decaying.

(Embalmer, NCI Dictionary)

Camphor oil has anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties and is used for its aromatic properties, as an insect repellant, in embalming fluids, and in various topical skin preparations.

(Camphor Oil, NCI Thesaurus)

It was perfectly obvious to me, on reading the Ritual, that the measurements must refer to some spot to which the rest of the document alluded, and that if we could find that spot, we should be in a fair way towards finding what the secret was which the old Musgraves had thought it necessary to embalm in so curious a fashion.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As Goethe, when he had a joy or a grief, put it into a song, so Laurie resolved to embalm his love sorrow in music, and to compose a Requiem which should harrow up Jo's soul and melt the heart of every hearer.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)