Buries

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To put an object underground or within a space while hiding it from sight or memory, often associated with the practice of interring a body during a funeral
2. To deposit something beneath the surface or within a covering to obscure it from others, including the act of laying a deceased person to rest
3. Places something beneath the earth or another covering to hide or protect it

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "bury" is that its oldest sense had nothing to do with graves. Its ancestor in Proto-Germanic meant "to keep safe," and the Old English "byrġan" carried the same idea of protecting something by putting it away. Burying a body was one application of that protective sense, not its starting point. The same root gives German "bergen," which still means "to save or rescue," and Icelandic "byrgja," which means "to cover, shut, or hold in." The root reaches back further still, to a Proto-Indo-European form meaning "to defend, protect." Its relatives scatter across distant languages: Lithuanian "bir̃ginti" means "to save, spare," and Russian "беречь" (beréčʹ) means "to spare" or "to take care of." Russian "хоронить" (xoronítʹ), meaning "to bury," is related to "хранить" (xranítʹ), "to keep," showing how closely the two ideas were once linked. The modern pronunciation, with a short "e" sound, comes from the Kentish dialect, while the spelling with "u" preserves how the West Midland and Southern dialects once pronounced it, rhyming roughly with "fury."

Synonyms: inter, entomb, inurn

Antonyms: unearth, dig up