Wiktionary

carrion

See also: Carrion and Carrión

English

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WOTD – 18 July 2024

Etymology

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A wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax) with carrion (noun sense 1.1; in this case a kangaroo) in Australia.

The noun is derived from Middle English careine, caroigne (“dead body, corpse; animal carcass; reanimated corpse; gangrenous or rotting body or flesh; mortal nature; (derogatory) living body; (figurative) disgusting or worthless thing”),[1] borrowed from Anglo-Norman careine, caroigne, charogne, and Old French charoigne, Northern Old French caˈronië, caroine, caroigne (modern French charogne), probably from Vulgar Latin *carōnia, from Latin caro (“flesh”)[2] (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off, sever; to divide, separate”)) + -ia (suffix forming nouns). Doublet of crone.

The regular modern English form would be *carren, *carron /ˈkæɹən/ (this is found dialectally; see similar kyarn); the intervening /i/ is probably a hypercorrection based on the analogy of words like merlin/merlion.

The adjective is derived from the noun.[2]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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carrion (usually uncountable, plural carrions)

  1. (uncountable)
    2. Rotting flesh of a dead animal or person.
      Vultures feed on carrion.
      • 1568, Anthony of Gueuara [i.e., Antonio de Guevara], “That the Nobles ⁊ Beloued of Princes Exceede Not in Superfluous Fare, ⁊ that They bee Not too Sũptuous in Their Meates. A Notable Chapter for Those yͭ Vse too much Delicacye and Superfluity.”, in Thomas North, transl., The Dial of Princes. […], revised edition, London: […] Richarde Tottill, and Thomas Marshe, →OCLC, 4th booke, folio 160, verso:
        [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.
      • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Advocate”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 119:
        [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?
      • 1859 December 13, Charles Dickens, “The Mortals in the House”, in Charles Dickens, editor, The Haunted House. The Extra Christmas Number of All the Year Round […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Whiting, […], →OCLC, page 7, column 2:
        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.
      • 1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter X, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLC, page 123:
        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.
    3. (figurative) Corrupt or horrid matter.
    4. (obsolete, figurative) Filth, garbage.
    5. (obsolete, figurative, derogatory) The flesh of a living human body; also (Christianity), sinful human nature.
  2. (countable, obsolete)
    1. A dead body; a carcass, a corpse.
      • 1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC, page 166:
        [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; […]
      • 1620 October 5 (Gregorian calendar), James Howell, “XX. To My Cousin W[illiam] Vaughan Esq; from St. Malo”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], 3rd edition, volume I, London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], published 1655, →OCLC, section I, page 30:
        [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.
    2. (figurative) An animal which is in poor condition or worthless; also, an animal which is a pest or vermin.
      • 1550, John Heywood, “The Woodcock and the Daw”, in An Hundred Epigrammes. […], London: […] Thomas Berthelet, →OCLC, signature [Cvi], verso:
        [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.
      • 1580, Thomas Tusser, “Septembers Husbandrie”, in Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie: […], London: […] Henrie Denham [beeing the assigne of William Seres] […], →OCLC, stanza 6, folio 15, verso:
        Let carren and barren, be ſhifted awaie, / for beſt is the beſt, whatſoeuer ye paie.
        Referring to cattle which are in poor condition and barren.
      • 1634, William Wood, “Of the Birds and Fowles both of Land and Water”, in New Englands Prospect. A True, Lively, and Experimentall Description of that Part of America, Commonly Called New England; […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Bellamie, […], →OCLC, 1st part, page 26:
        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: […]
    3. (figurative, derogatory) A contemptible or worthless person.
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:worthless person

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Adjective

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carrion (comparative more carrion, superlative most carrion)

  1. (chiefly derogatory) Pertaining to, or made up of, rotting flesh.
    • c. 1522 (date written), Thomas More, “A Treatyce (Vnfynyshed) vppon These Wordes of Holye Scrypture, Memorare Nouissima, & Ineternum non Peccabis, Remember the Last Thynges, and Thou shalt Neuer Synne. […]. Of Glotony.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, column 101:
      Theſe glotõs daily kil thẽſelf their own handes, ⁊ no man findeth fault, but carieth his cariẽ corſe into yͤ quere, and wͭ much ſolẽne ſeruice, burieth yͤ body boldly at the hie alter, whẽ thei haue at their life (as thapoſtle ſaith) made theyr belly their god, ⁊ liked to know none other: […]
      These gluttons daily kill themselves [with] their own hands, and no man finds fault, but carries his carrion [indicated as carien] corse into the choir [of the church], and with much solemn service, buries the body boldly at the high altar, when they have at their life (as the apostle says) made their belly their god, and liked to know none other: […]
    • 1582, Virgil, “The Third Booke of Virgil His Aeneis”, in Richard Stanyhurst, transl., The First Foure Bookes of Virgils Æneis, […], London: Henrie Bynneman […], published 1583, →OCLC; republished as The First Four Books of the Æneid of Virgil, […], Edinburgh: [Edinburgh Printing Company], 1836, →OCLC, page 71:
      This coouie [i.e., covey of harpies] rauenouſe, and ſwift with a deſperat onſet, / They gripte in tallants the meat, and foorth ſpourged a ſtincking / Foule carrayne ſauoure: […]
    • c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], signatures [G4], verso – H, recto:
      You'l aske me vvhy I rather chooſe to haue / A vveight of carrion fleſh, then to receiue / Three thouſand Ducats?
  2. (figurative)
    1. Disgusting, horrid, rotten.
      Synonyms: vile; see also Thesaurus:despicable
      • 1826 September 16, “Rural Ride, down the Valley of the Avon, in Wiltshire”, in William Cobbett, editor, Cobbett’s Weekly Register, volume LIX, number 12, London: […] W[illiam] Cobbett, […], →OCLC, column 742:
        [T]he baseness, the foul, the stinking, the carrion baseness, of the fellows that call themselves "country gentlemen," is, […] that, while they are thus bold with regard to the working and poor people, they never even whisper a word against pensioners, placemen, soldiers, parsons, fundholders, tax-gatherers, or tax-eaters! They say not a word against the prolific dead-weight, to whom they GIVE A PREMIUM FOR BREEDING, while they want to check the population of labourers!
      • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Town-Ho’s Story”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, pages 284–285:
        'But as for you, ye carrion rogues,' turning to the three men in the rigging—'for you, I mean to mince ye up for the try-pots;' and, seizing a rope, he applied it with all his might to the backs of the two traitors, till they yelled no more, but lifelessly hung their heads sideways, as the two crucified thieves are drawn.
    2. (derogatory) Of the living human body, the soul, etc.: fleshly, mortal, sinful.
  3. (obsolete)
    1. Very thin; emaciated, skeletonlike.
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:scrawny
    2. Of or pertaining to death.

Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “careine, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 “carrion, n. and adj.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2023; “carrion, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ Hall, Joseph Sargent (1942 March 2) “2. The Vowel Sounds of Unstressed and Partially Stressed Syllables”, in The Phonetics of Great Smoky Mountain Speech (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 4), New York: King's Crown Press, →DOI, →ISBN, § II.2, page 65.

Further reading

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