Meaning of Carrion | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Rotting flesh of a dead animal or person.
   uncountable, usually
2. A surname.
3. Corrupt or horrid matter.
   figuratively, uncountable, usually
4. Filth, garbage.
   figuratively, obsolete, uncountable, usually
5. The flesh of a living human body; also (Christianity), sinful human nature.
   derogatory, figuratively, obsolete, uncountable, usually
6. A dead body; a carcass, a corpse.
   countable, obsolete, uncountable, usually
7. An animal which is in poor condition or worthless; also, an animal which is a pest or vermin.
   countable, figuratively, obsolete, uncountable, usually
8. A contemptible or worthless person.
   countable, derogatory, figuratively, obsolete, uncountable, usually

Equivalents

Examples

“Vultures feed on carrion.”

“[W]ee ſee by experience, that ſome [brute beasts] feedeth on yͤ graſſe in yͤ fyelds ſome liues in the ayre eating flyes, others vpon yͤ wormes in carin, others wͭ [with] that they fynd vnder the water.”

“[W]hat disordered slippery decks of a whale-ship are comparable to the unspeakable carrion of those battle-fields from which so many soldiers return to drink in all ladies' plaudits?”

“He brought down with him to our haunted house a little cask of salt beef; for, he is always convinced that all salt beef not of his own pickling, is mere carrion, and invariably, when he goes to London, packs a piece in his portmanteau.”

“And the butterflies are flaunting across the rides in the Forest. Perhaps the Purple Emperor is feasting, as Morris says, upon a mass of putrid carrion at the base of an oak tree.”

“[T]here are melancholy sceptics with a taste for carrion who batten on the hideous facts in history,—persecutions, inquisitions, St. Bartholomew massacres, devilish lives, […]”

“Roman fashionable society hated Cæsar, and any carrion was welcome to them which would taint his reputation.”

“Shy[lock]. My ovvne fleſh and blood to rebell. / Salan[io]. Out vpon it old carrion, rebels it as theſe yeares.”

“[T]hey looked like anatomies of death, they spake like ghosts crying out of their graves; they did eate the dead carrions, happy where they could finde them, yea, and one another soone after, insomuch as the very carcasses they spared not to scrape out of their graves; […]”

“[T]here is here a perpetual Garriſon of Engliſh, but they are of Engliſh Dogs, vvhich are let out in the night to guard the Ships, and eat the Carrens up and dovvn the Streets, and ſo they are ſhut up again in the Morning.”

“[L]ords will by their wils / Rather haue one wodcock, than a thouſand dawſe. / Wodcocks ar meate, daws ar carren, wey this clauſe. / In dede ſir (ſaid the daw) I muſt needes agree, / Lords loue to eate you, and not to eate mee.”

“Let carren and barren, be ſhifted awaie, / for beſt is the beſt, whatſoeuer ye paie.”

“Having ſhevved you the moſt deſireable, uſefull, and beneficiall creatures, vvith the moſt offenſive carrions that belong to our VVilderneſſe, it remaines in the next place, to ſhevv you ſuch kinds of Fovvle as the Countrey affoords: […]”

“And vvhat other Oath, / Then Honeſty to Honeſty ingag'd, / That this ſhall be, or vve vvill fall for it. / Svveare Prieſts and Covvards, and men Cautelous / Old feeble Carrions, and ſuch ſuffering Soules / That vvelcome vvrongs: […]”

“[…] Pegg Kite, […] will be, I doubt, a troublesome carrion to us executors; but if she will not be ruled, I shall fling up my executorship.”

CEFR level