Forms: α. 3–6 toumbe, tumbe, 4–5 toumb, 4–6 tumb, 4–7 tombe, 5 towmbe, 6–7 toombe, 4– tomb. β. 4–5 towme, 4–6 tome, 5–6 toume, 6 Sc. toim, 6–7 toome. [Early ME. toumbe, tumbe, a. AF. tumbe, OF. tombe (12th c. in Godef.) = Sp., Pg. tumba, It. tomba:—late L. tumba (Prudentius), ad. Gr. τύμβος sepulchral mound.
The final b began to be mute in Eng. (cf. lamb, dumb) early in 14th c., but the spelling tomb, which never exactly represented the spoken word, has survived, and from the 17th c. been the accepted form.]
1. A place of burial; an excavation in earth or rock for the reception of a dead body, a grave. Also, a chamber or vault formed wholly or partly in the earth, and, in early times, a tumulus or mound raised over the body.
(In quot. 1275, perhaps a coffin or sarcophagus.)
c. 1275. Lay., 6080. Hii makede one tumbe [c. 1205 tunne] of golde and of gimmes. þane kinge hii dude þar ine … and leide hine mid honure heȝe inII þan toure.
c. 1290. Beket, 2341, in S. Eng. Leg., I. 173. Riȝt so he wende to þe stude þere seint thomas lai At is toumbe he feol a-doun a-kneo wepinde wel sore.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 17798 (Cott.). Yee sal find þair tumbs [Gött. tumbes] tome [= toom].
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 12113. Þis burd was broght to þe bare toumb.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, 93. Thenne they took the body out of the tombe.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, V. vii. 16. At the tumbe [L. tumulum] … Quhair beryit was Hector of maist renoun.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., I. xiv. 187. Tombes are the clothes of the dead.
1756–7. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), II. 232. The churchyard is so full of tombs.
1838. Thirlwall, Greece, II. xvi. 389. A tomb … which was generally believed to contain his bones.
b. transf. Anything that is or may become the last resting place of a corpse.
1812. J. Wilson, Isle of Palms, I. 646. The sails now serve them for a shroud, And the sea-cave is their tomb.
c. fig.
1816. Shelley, Sunset, 42. The tomb of thy dead self. Ibid. (1818), The Past, 9. Memories that make the heart a tomb.
1907. Nation (N. Y.), 12 Sept., 222/2. The office of mayor has been the tomb of many political ambitions.
2. A monument erected to enclose or cover the body and preserve the memory of the dead; a sepulchral structure raised above the earth. Hence sometimes a cenotaph. Also formerly, a tombstone erected over a grave.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 102/33. Poruȝ touchingue of seinte Agace toumbe þouȝ schalt beo hol a-non.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 2617. He bad þat … me is bodi nome & burede it … In an tumbe suiþe hey, þat hii miȝte hit ver yse. Ibid., 4594. At glastinbury … at uore þe heye weued,… As is bones liggeþ, is toumbe wel vair is.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 7791. Byrieþ me þere … & doþ make a toumbe þat longe may last.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, II. xi. 88. Kyng Arthur lete make the tonbe of kynge Lot passyng rychely.
1545. Test. Ebor. (Surtees), VI. 234. Fortie poundes … to make a tombe over my grave.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 304. The common sort haue their Tombes of marble engrauen with letters.
1657. in Swayne, Sarum Churchw. Acc. (1896), 234. To make a Toombe ouer his wiues Graue.
a. 1717. Parnell, Night Piece on Death, 39. The Marble Tombs that rise on high, Whose Dead in vaulted Arches lye.
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk., Westm. Abbey. I paused to contemplate a tomb on which lay the effigy of a knight in complete armour.
3. Regarded as the final resting-place of every one; hence sometimes used for the state of death.
1559. Mirr. Mag., Hen. VI., vi. Would god the rufull toumbe had been my royall trone.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. x. § 5. Our Minds represent to us those Tombs, to which we are approaching.
1769. Gray, Install. Ode, 50. Charity, that glows beyond the tomb.
1777. J. Ryland, in Palmer, Bk. Praise (1862), 226. He that formed me in the womb, He shall guide me to the tomb.
1822. Byron, Heav. & Earth, I. iii. Than to behold the universal tomb.
4. R. C. Ch. Designating a cavity in an altar, where relics are deposited; an altar-cavity.
1886. Encycl. Brit., XX. 357/2. Every altar used for the celebration of mass must, according to Roman Catholic rule, contain some authorized relics. These are inserted into a cavity prepared for their reception, called ‘the tomb,’ by the bishop of the diocese, and sealed up with the episcopal seal.
5. attrib. and Comb. a. attrib., as tomb-board, -burglar, -burglary, -cave, -chamber, -chapel, -dweller, -house, -painting, -palace, -relief, -slab, -temple, etc. b. objective, as tomb-breaker, -maker, -robber. c. instrumental, etc., as tomb-paved, -strewn; tomb-black, -like adjs. See also TOMB-BAT, -STONE.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. viii. 16. To decke his herce, and trap his *tomb-blacke steed.
1594. ? Greene, Selimus, Wks. (Grosart), XIV. 269. When thus they see me with religious pompe, To celebrate his tomb-blacke mortuarie.
1785. T. Cumber, Diary in Home Counties Mag. (1902), IV. 226. The following inscription on a *tomb board.
1631. Weever, Anc. Fun. Mon., 51. These *Tombe-breakers, these graue-diggers.
1654. R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 408. *Tomb-Burglary in this kind, being so uncouth a Case, as Law never made Provision against it.
1891. G. F. X. Griffith, trans. Fouard’s Christ the Son of God, I. 310, note. Numerous *tomb-caves are still to be seen hollowed out of the mountain-side.
1906. Petrie, Relig. Anc. Egypt, iii. 12. In Upper Egypt at present a hole is left at the top of the *tomb chamber; and I have seen a woman remove the covering of the hole, and talk down to her deceased husband.
1908. Blackw. Mag., July, 59. Solid *tomb-chapels had to be constructed in honour of the more important dead.
1762–71. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), I. 176. Leland says that … Henry VII. pulled it down, and erected the present *tomb-house in it’s place.
1829. Belfast News-Letter, 2 Oct., 1/3. Her voice had a far-off, hollow, *tomb-like sound.
1845. Hirst, Com. Mammoth, etc., 18. No murmur broke The silence of that tomb-like spot.
1906. Dk. Argyll, Autobiog., I. ix. 203. The lower church is essentially tomblike.
1580. in Archæol. Jrnl. (1851), VIII. 185. Richard Roiley … *Tumbe maker.
1619. Rutland MSS. (1905), IV. 517. Paid to Nycholas Johnson, tombmaker, for the finishing of the monument for the late Earle Roger of Rutland, 100 li.
1887. Mahaffy & Gilman, Alexander’s Empire, xxix. (1890), 271. Objects represented in the *tomb-paintings with their names written over them.
1901. Edin. Rev., Jan., 33. The *tomb-palaces of long-dead kings.
1804. J. Grahame, Sabbath (1805), 14. Slowly the throng moves o’er the *tomb-paved ground.
1923. Winfield (KS) Daily Courier, 14 April, 1/1, headline. Winfield Spiritualist Thinks Spirit of Egypt’s King [Tut] May Have Smitten *Tomb Raiders.
1906. Macm. Mag., Oct., 896. Such an almost pathetic beauty is the dominant note of the later *tomb-reliefs of Athenian sculpture.
1853. Hickie, trans. Aristoph. (1872), II. 592. He would thus be a *tomb-robber.
1908. Athenæum, 21 March, 360/3. A tomb-robber could … remove the jewellery and other valuable objects buried with the corpse.
1889. Hissey, Tour in Phaeton, 329. Ancient and curious *tomb-slabs.
1906. Daily Chron., 20 July, 5/5. In a quiet *tomb-strewn graveyard among the winding lanes of Welwyn.
1904. H. Spencer, Autobiog., II. XII. lvii. 335. The thing which impressed me was the *tomb-temple in which we picnic’d.
