funeral

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French funerailles pl (“funeral rites”), from Medieval Latin fūnerālia (“funeral rites”), originally neuter plural of Late Latin fūnerālis (“having to do with a funeral”), from Latin fūnus (“funeral, death, corpse”), origin unknown, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰew- (“to die”). Singular and plural used interchangeably in English until circa 1700. The adjective funereal is first attested 1725, by influence of Middle French funerail, from Latin funereus, from funus. First attested in 1437. Displaced native Old English līcþeġnung (literally “dead body service”).

noun

1. A ceremony to honour and remember a deceased person. Often distinguished from a memorial service by the presence of the body of the deceased.
   Many mourners turned up at the local artist's funeral to pay homage.
   The taking Away of Righteous & Merciful Perſons muſt be taken to Heart, APPLIED IN A SERMON AT THE FUNERALLS OF Mʳⁱˢ ANNE-MARY CHILD. Wife of THOMAS CHILD Eſq. of North-wick in the Pariſh of Blockley. Worceſter-ſhire.[…]TO THE Exemplarily Vertuous Gentle-woman, his much honoured friend, Mʳˢ ANNE CHILD, Eldeſt daughter of THOMAS CHILD of Northwicke Eſquire. AS I mean not an exerciſe for your modeſty by a flattering Epiſtle, ſo neither doe I intend the renewing of your ſorrows, by preſenting you with the plaine Sermon preach’t at the funerals of your bleſſed Mother. 1661, Giles Collier, The Taking Away of Righteous & Merciful Persons Must Be Taken to Heart, Applied in a Sermon at the Funeralls of Mʳⁱˢ Anne-Mary Child.[…], Oxford: […]William Hall
2. (dated, chiefly in the plural) A funeral sermon.

adj

1. (uncommon) Alternative form of funereal
   All was funeral gloom and hope never whispered its cheering promises there. 1852, Benson John Lossing, The Pictorial Field-book of the Revolution, page 367
   Indeed I felt it altogether beautiful; and, as the "dying day-hymn stole aloft," the dim sun-beams fell, through a vista of naked motionless trees, upon the coffin, which was borne with a slower and more funeral pace than before, in a manner that threw a solemn and visionary light upon the whole procession. 1869, William Carleton, Tubber Derg: Or, The Red Well, page 166
   There was something dramatic and theatrical in the very funeral ceremonies with which Demetrius was honored. 1888, Plutarch's Lives: The Translation Called Dryden's - Volume 5, page 153
   The very funeral pageantry disguised behind-the-scenes struggles for control over Sidney's image. 1998, Lisa M. Klein, The Exemplary Sidney and the Elizabethan Sonneteer, page 15