Also 5 vrn (6 Sc. wrn), 4–7 vrne, 5 uryn, 7 urne. [ad. L. urna (whence It., Sp., Pg. urna, F. urne), f. ūrĕre to burn.]
1. An earthenware or metal vessel or vase of a rounded or ovaloid form and with a circular base, used by various peoples esp. in former times (notably by the Romans and Greeks) to preserve the ashes of the dead. Hence vaguely used (esp. poet.) for ‘a tomb or sepulchre, the grave.’
In frequent use from c. 1640.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, V. 311. The poudre … prey I þe þow take and it conserue In a vessel, þat men clepeþ an vrne, Of gold.
14[?]. Lydg., Bk. Life of our Lady (Caxton) i. vi b. The pyece … Was by an aungel in an vrne of golde To charlis brought. Ibid. (1420–2), Thebes, III. 4575. Some of hem with vrnes made of gold, whan the asshes fully weren made cold, Tenclosyn hem.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., I. vi. 24. When she is dead, Her Ashes, in an Vrne … Transported, shall be at high Festiuals. Ibid. (1595), Hen. V., I. ii. 228. Lay these bones in an vnworthy Vrne, Tomblesse, with no remembrance ouer them.
1607. Dekker, Hist. Sir T. Wyatt, A 3. Alasse, how small an Vrne containes a King!
1658. Sir T. Browne (title), Hydriotaphia, Urne Buriall, or, a Discourse of the Sepulchrall Urnes lately found in Norfolk.
1685. Dryden, Thren. August., xiii. So, rising from his Fathers Urn, So Glorious did our Charles return.
1702. Echard, Eccl. Hist., III. iv. 376. Ordering his Urn to be brought,… [Severus] said ‘Little Urn, thou shalt now contain what the whole World could not before.’
1750. Gray, Elegy, xi. Can storied urn or animated bust Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
1824. Byron, Juan, XVI. xviii. As you turn Backward and forward…, voices from the urn Appear to wake.
1838. [J. Murray], Econ. Vegetation, iii. 76. The capsule of the poppy … seems to have been adopted as the pattern of the cinerary urn.
1875. W. Eassie, Cremation, 16. In both ancient Greece and Rome the dwelling-house was made the repository of the funeral urns. Ibid., 123. Urns of gold and silver were not uncommon in ancient times, and are even yet used in Siam.
2. A vessel for holding voting-tablets, lots, or balls, in casting lots, voting, etc. Chiefly Roman Antiq.
1513. Douglas, Æneid, VI. i. 46. The deidlie vrne…, Out of the quhilk the lottis warrin draw. Ibid., vii. 18. The fatale wrn and ballance.
1601. B. Jonson, Poetaster, V. iii. Come, We of the bench Let’s rise to the vine, and condemne ’hem.
1658. J. Harrington, Oceana, 72. The number of the Ballottants at either Urn.
1703. Prior, Ode Memory G. Villiers, 92. When th’ Infernal Judges dismal Pow’r From the dark Urn shall throw Thy destin’d Hour.
1720. Ozell, Vertot’s Rom. Rep., II. xii. 235. To draw out of the Urn none but the Names of such Tribes.
1781. J. Moore, View Soc. Italy, I. xi. 121. Each elector … throws a little billet into an urn…. On this billet is inscribed the person’s name.
1825. Fosbroke, Encycl. Antiq., 201. Urns for the Ballot…. These urns were of two kinds.
1838. De Morgan, Ess. Probab., 54. A white ball has been drawn, and from one or other of the two following urns.
1884. trans. Lotze’s Logic, 368. Suppose we put in an urn … 3 white balls, in a second urn … 4 white balls.
† b. In the urn, not yet discovered; unknown.
1658. Sir T. Browne, Hydriot., i. 2. That great Antiquity America lay buried for a thousand years, and a large part of the earth is still in the Urne unto us.
c. A ballot-box.
1888. Times (weekly ed.), 21 Dec., 6/1. Nearly 75 per cent. of the … voters appeared at the urns.
1892. Nation (N.Y.), 8 Dec., 428/1. Since the extension of the suffrage [in Italy], the attendance at the urns has considerably fallen off.
3. A hollow (esp. earthenware) vessel or pot of an oviform or rounded shape, and having a circular base; used for various purposes. Also in fig. context.
a. 1639. Carew, Poems (1651), 8. Vesta is not displeas’d if her chast urn Doe with repayred fuell ever burn.
1648. Wilkins, Math. Magick, II. x. 234. As a rustick was digging the ground … he found an Urne … in which there was another urne, and in this lesser, a lamp clearly burning.
1656. Cowley, Mistr., Dialogue, iv. Like Tapers shut in ancient Urns.
1754. Gray, Progr. Poetry, 109. Bright-eyed Fancy … Scatters from her pictured urn Thoughts, that breathe.
1827. Pollok, Course T., VIII. 633. He put A penny in the urn of poverty.
1851. Neale, Med. Hymns, 102. Here the urn of manna standeth.
transf. 1857. Heavysege, Saul (1869), 234. [A] song … Falling as faintly and as dewlike down Into the urn of my night-opened ear.
fig. a. 1854. H. Reed, Lect. Brit. Poets, xiv. (1857), II. 171. The steady orb of a planet, its golden urn filled at the fountain of the sun.
1857. Emerson, Ode sung in Town Hall, 2. O tenderly the haughty day Fills his blue urn with fire.
1860. Sangster, Hesperus, 26. Morn on the mountains lights his urn of fire.
b. A sculptured ornament resembling or shaped like a vase, water-pot, or cinerary urn.
1653. in Verney Mem. (1907), I. 530. Her statue … set uppon an Urne or Pedestall.
1658. Sir T. Browne, Hydriot., Ep. Ded. Theatrical Vessels, and great Hippodrome Urns in Rome.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., Urn,… a kind of Vase,… used as Ornaments over Chimney-pieces, a-top of Buildings, Funeral Monuments, &c.
1767. Jago, Edge-hill, I. 472. Nor the lone Hermit’s Cell, or mournful Urn Build on the sprightly Lawn.
1842. Tennyson, Day-Dream, 29. Soft lustre bathes the range of urns On every slanting terrace-lawn.
1849. C. Brontë, Shirley, xi. The cedar on the lawn,… and the granite urns on the garden wall.
1885. J. B. Fleming, Lett. to Dr. W. G. Blackie, 20 March (MS.). The Draped Urn of Monumental Sculpture. Ibid. Draped or Monumental Urns.
4. An oviform pitcher or vessel for holding water, etc.; a water-pitcher, water-pot.
1613. R. Cawdrey, Table Alph. (ed. 3), Vrne, a pot or pitcher.
1649. Ogilby, Æneis, VII. (1684), 286. There Argus watch’d, lest to her shape she [sc. Io] turn, By Inachus pouring from a graven Urn.
1688. Holme, Armoury, III. 205/2. Temperance hath a Cup in the one hand, and a Bottle Urn in the other, pouring Wine thereout.
1725. Pope, Odyssey, II. 398. But by thy care twelve urns of wine be fill’d.
1747. Spence, Polymetis, 172. Aquarius … holds the cup or little urn in his hand, inclined downwards.
1796. H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Stud. Nat., I. 252. Some very ancient medals, in which rivers were represented by figures leaning on an urn.
1821. Shelley, Adonais, xi. One from a lucid urn of starry dew Washed his light limbs.
1846. Keble, Lyra Innoc. (ed. 3), 280. The wedding guests are met, The urns are duly set.
1867. Morris, Jason, IV. 460. To turn the mill, and carry forth the urn Unto the stream.
fig. and transf. 1720. Pope, Iliad, XXIV. 663. Two urns by Jove’s high throne have ever stood;… From thence the cup of mortal man he fills, Blessings to these, to those distributes ills.
1781. Cowper, Charity, 436. When one, that holds communion with the skies, Has fill’d his urn where these pure waters rise.
1838. Lytton, Alice, I. iii. Her simplicity of thought was daily filled, from the urns of invisible spirits.
a. 1866. B. Taylor, Summer Camp, 13. Shadelike dew Poured from the urns of twilight.
b. The source of a stream, river, etc.; a spring or fountain. Also, the course of a stream.
From the practice of representing river gods or nymphs in sculpture or painting as holding, leaning upon, or pouring water from, an urn.
[1692. Prior, Ode Imit. Hor., x. Where-e’er old Rhine his fruitful Water turns, Or fills his Vassals Tributary Urns.]
1728. Young, Love Fame, VII. 207. From the rich store one fruitful urn supplies, Whole kingdoms smile, a thousand harvests rise.
1767. Jago, Edge-hill, I. 209. From many a subterraneous Reservoir,… the rocky Urns … their liquid Stores discharge.
1781. Cowper, Retirem., 76. Ten thousand rivers poured … From urns that never fail.
1810. T. L. Peacock, Genius of Thames, 10. The streams roll on, nor e’er return To fill again their parent urn.
1824. Longf., Woods in Winter, iv. From their frozen urns, mute springs Pour out the river’s gradual tide.
1830. Tennyson, Ode to Mem., 61. The brook … Drawing into his narrow earthen urn … The filter’d tribute of the rough woodland.
c. A bottle or vase for holding tears (freq. with lachrymal). Also transf.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v., Another kind of Urns were those which they called lachrymales, or the tear-Urns. These were contrived to receive the tears of the friends of the deceased.
1771. Mrs. Griffith, History of Lady Barton, III. 46. I opened the little trunk,… which may properly be called the lachrymal urn of the unfortunate Maria.
1837. Popular Encycl., VI. 764. Little vessels have occasionally been found in ancient tombs, denominated lachrymal urns.
d. Astr. The constellation of Aquarius.
1633. P. Fletcher, Pisc. Ecl., etc. To W. R., iv. The sunne, which yet in fishes hasks, Or wat’ry urn, impounds his fainting head.
1697. Creech, Manilius, II. 65. The Fish oppose the Maid, the watry Urn With adverse Fires sees raging Leo burn.
1770. Akenside, Odes, I. xvi. 1. With sordid floods the wintry Urn Hath stained fair Richmond’s level green.
5. Short for tea-urn, TEA sb. 9 c.
1781. W. Hayley, Tri. Temper, IV. 120. No smoke arises from the silver urn, And the blank tea-board … Only supplied the paper of the day.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 38. The bubbling and loud-hissing urn.
1834. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Boarding-ho., ii. James brought up the urn, and received an unlimited order for dry toast and bacon.
1880. Miss Braddon, Just as I am, xxi. Miss Blake presided over the urn and teapots.
6. a. Bot. The spore-case or capsule of urn-mosses.
1840. Penny Cycl., XVI. 9/2. The urn (sporangium, or theca) in which the spores, or seed-like bodies, are generated.
1858. Carpenter, Veg. Phys., § 736. The fructification of Mosses … consists of a capsule or urn, borne at the top of a long foot-stalk, which grows out from the centre of a cluster of leaves.
1890. Nature, 20 Feb., 379. The mosses unfold the delicate lacework of their dainty urns.
b. Biol. An urn-shaped process or part.
1877. Huxley, Anat. Inv. Anim., xi. 655. An infusoriform, bilaterally symmetrical embryo, which consists of an urn, a ciliated body, and two refractive bodies.
1883. H. Drummond, Nat. Law in Spir. W., 370. No power on earth can make these little urns of the Polycystinæ except Life.
7. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 1) urn-burial, -field, -graveyard, -niche; (sense 5) urn-room -stand; (sense 2 c) urn-system; urn-burying, -cornered, -like, -maker, -shaped, etc.; urn animalcule, -flower, -moss (see quots.).
1847. T. R. Jones, in Todd’s Cycl. Anat., IV. I. 11. The Trichodinæ, or *Urn animalcules,… are provided with a fasciculus or circle of cilin situated in front of their bodies, which are disc-shaped, bowl-shaped, or conical.
1658. *Urn-burial [see sense 1].
a. 1796. in Gentl. Mag., LXVI. I. 41/1. The latter [sc. Danish] people used urn-burial, and burnt their dead.
1836. Archaeol., XXVI. 370. Evidence … that urn burial had been disused at length by the Romans.
a. 1682. Sir T. Browne, Tracks (1683), 154. They might be erected … before the term of *Urn-burying or custom of burning the dead expired.
1895. K. Grahame, Golden Age, 45. Terrace after terrace of shaven sward, stone-edged, *urn-cornered.
1889. Soc. Antiquaries, Notice of Meeting, 5 Dec. Celtic Pottery from an ancient British *urn-field.
1891. Cent. Dict., Urceolina pendula and U. latifolia are border plants from Peru, known in cultivation as *urn-flower.
1888. R. Brown, Our Earth & its Story, II. 264/1. A separate kind of burial-place are the *urn-graveyards.
a. 1661. Holyday, Persius (1673), 295. The hollow womb Of his … *urn-inclosing tomb.
1826. Galt, Last of Lairds, xxxii. 281. A tall *urn-like china-pot.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot. (1836), 407. Thecæ, hollow urn-like cases seated upon a seta or stalk.
1881. Instr. Census Clerks (1885), 46. Tray Maker. *Urn Maker.
1846. Lindley, Veg. Kingd., 66. *Urnmosses are found in all parts of the world where the atmosphere is humid.
1866. Treas. Bot., 1194/2. Urn-Mosses,… the Bryaceæ or true Mosses.
1848. J. Grant, Adv. of Aide-de-camp, xii. The dismal aspect of the place—its dark walls and darker *urn-niches.
1901. Guinness Trust, Fulham P. Rd., 6. The *urn room … is fitted with a series of copper kettles.
1857. in W. Eassie, Cremation (1875), 127, title, Burning the Dead, or *Urn-sepulture Religiously, Socially, and Generally considered.
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), I. 211. Nectary concave, *urn-shaped.
1875. Bennett & Dyer, trans. Sachs’ Bot., 246. The spermogonia … are urn-shaped receptacles.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., No. 5773. Marble chess-table and *urn-stand.
1901. Westm. Gaz., 7 March, 6/1. The *urn system existing in the French Chamber.
1839. Bailey, Festus, 54. An *urn-topped column.
