Carrion

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Carrion \Car"ri*on\, n. [OE. caroyne, OF. caroigne, F. charogne,
     LL. caronia, fr. L. caro flesh Cf. {Crone}, {Crony}.]
     1. The dead and putrefying body or flesh of an animal; flesh
        so corrupted as to be unfit for food.
        [1913 Webster]
  


              They did eat the dead carrions.       --Spenser.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A contemptible or worthless person; -- a term of reproach.
        [Obs.] "Old feeble carrions." --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Carrion \Car"ri*on\, a.
     Of or pertaining to dead and putrefying carcasses; feeding on
     carrion.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           A prey for carrion kites.                --Shak.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     {Carrion beetle} (Zool.), any beetle that feeds habitually on
        dead animals; -- also called {sexton beetle} and {burying
        beetle}. There are many kinds, belonging mostly to the
        family {Silphid[ae]}.
  
     {Carrion buzzard} (Zool.), a South American bird of several
        species and genera (as {Ibycter}, {Milvago}, and
        {Polyborus}), which act as scavengers. See {Caracara}.
  
     {Carrion crow}, the common European crow ({Corvus corone})
        which feeds on carrion, insects, fruits, and seeds.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  carrion
       n 1: dead and rotting flesh; unfit for human food
       2: the dead and rotting body of an animal

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  88 Moby Thesaurus words for "carrion":
     ashes, bilge, bilgewater, body, bones, cadaver, carcass, caries,
     clay, corpse, corpus delicti, corruption, crowbait, dandruff,
     dead body, dead man, dead person, decay, decedent, decomposition,
     dishwater, ditchwater, dry bones, dry rot, dust, earth,
     embalmed corpse, excrement, filth, food for worms, foul matter,
     foulness, furfur, gangrene, garbage, late lamented, mess,
     mortal remains, mortification, muck, mucus, mummification, mummy,
     necrosis, obscenity, offal, offscourings, ordure, organic remains,
     pus, putrefaction, putrescence, putrid matter, putridity,
     putridness, rancidity, rancidness, rankness, refuse, relics,
     reliquiae, remains, riffraff, rot, rottenness, scum, scurf, scuz,
     sewage, sewerage, skeleton, slime, slop, slops, slough, smut,
     sphacelation, sphacelus, spoilage, stiff, swill, tenement of clay,
     the dead, the deceased, the defunct, the departed, the loved one,
     tooth decay