morgue

Etymology

Borrowed from French morgue. The second sense developed from the first, via "a prison examination room", probably with reference to the haughty attitude of the jailers.

noun

1. (archaic) A supercilious or haughty attitude; arrogance.
   They being newcomers, free from the western morgue so soon caught by Oriental Europeans, were particularly civil to me, even wishing to mix me a strong draught; but I was not so fortunate with all on board. 1855, Sir Richard Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah, Dover, published 1964, page 34
2. A building or room where dead bodies are kept before their proper burial or cremation, (now) particularly in legal and law enforcement contexts.
3. (archaic) The archive and background information division of a newspaper.
   Librarian Talks of Newspaper Morgue 2 July 1921, Joseph F. Kwapil, Fourth Estate, page 5
   Shand: get down to the Record and the Trib. See what they've got on Elliot in their morgues. 2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 109