CARRION • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Carrion

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/kˈɛriən/ Listen

noun

Carrion n.

The dead and putrefying body or flesh of an animal; flesh so corrupted as to be unfit for food. "They did eat the dead carrions."

A contemptible or worthless person; a term of reproach. (Obs.) "Old feeble carrions."

adjective

Carrion adj. Of or pertaining to dead and putrefying carcasses; feeding on carrion. "A prey for carrion kites."

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 Silphidae.

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.

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Etymology of 'Carrion'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Carrion" Quotes from Famous Books

... not worth striking, But fawne with slavish flattery on damn'd vices, So great men act them: you clap hands at those, Where the true Poet indeed doth scorne to guild A gawdy Tombe with glory of his Verse Which coffins stinking Carrion; no, his lines Are free as his Invention; no base feare Can shape his penne to Temporize even with Kings; The blacker are their crimes he lowder sings. Goe, goe, thou canst not write; 'tis but my calling The ...

— Old English Plays, Vol. I - A Collection of Old English Plays • Various

... To stop my sport Vain were thy cant and beggar whine, Though human spirits of thy sort Were tenants of these carrion kine!" ...

— Hero Tales and Legends of the Rhine • Lewis Spence

... Our birth dies in infancy, and our infancy dies in youth, and youth and rest die in age, and age also dies and determines all. Nor do all these, youth out of infancy, or age out of youth, arise so as a Phoenix out of the ashes of another Phoenix formerly dead, but as a wasp or a serpent out of a carrion or as a snake out of dung." We can comprehend how an audience composed of men and women whose ne'er-do-weel relatives went to the theatre to be stirred by such tragedies as those of Marston and Cyril Tourneur would themselves ...

— Gossip in a Library • Edmund Gosse

... be at all. What if thou wert born and predestined not to be Happy, but to be Unhappy! Art thou nothing other than a Vulture, then, that fliest through the Universe seeking after somewhat to eat; and shrieking dolefully because carrion enough is not given thee? Close thy Byron; open thy Goethe." In effect, happiness is a relative term, which we can alter as we please by altering the amount which we demand from life. "Fancy that thou deservest to be hanged (as is most likely), thou wilt feel it happiness to be only ...

— Among Famous Books • John Kelman

... chance of death. You guard your dirty skins by wrecking ships upon the rocks. You dare not pit yourselves against a breathing victim. Like carrion-crows you sit to a ...

— Wappin' Wharf - A Frightful Comedy of Pirates • Charles S. Brooks

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