morgue

• n. 陈尸所；资料室，资料档案

morgue

morgue: [19] The original Morgue was a Parisian mortuary where unidentified corpses were displayed for visitors to try and put names to faces (a process described in gruesome detail by Émile Zola in Thérèse Raquin 1867). Its name is presumed to be a reapplication of an earlier French morgue ‘room in a prison where new prisoners were examined’, which may ultimately be the same word as morgue ‘haughty superiority’ (used in English from the 16th to the 19th centuries). Morgue was first adopted as a generic English term for ‘mortuary’ in the USA in the 1880s.

morgue (n.)

"mortuary," 1821, from French Morgue, originally a specific building in Paris where bodies were exposed for identification:

There is, in the most populous part of the French metropolis, an establishment entitled La Morgue, destined for the reception and exposition of bodies drowned in the Seine, and caught in nets, which are placed in different parts of the river for that purpose. The object of this exposition is, that the deceased may be recognised by their friends or relatives, and receive the rights of sepulture accordingly. The Morgue is open at all hours of the day, to passengers of every description, and often displays at a time, five or six horrible carcasses stretched, without covering, on an inclined platform, and subjected to the promiscuous gaze of the mob. ["American Review," January 1811]

Before that it was the place where new prisoners were displayed to keepers to establish their identification. Thus the name is believed to be probably from French morgue "haughtiness," originally "a sad expression, solemn look," from Old French morguer "look solemnly," from Vulgar Latin *murricare "to make a face, pout," from *murrum "muzzle, snout." The 1768 Dictionnaire Royal François-Anglois Et Anglois-François defines French morgue both as "A proud, big, haughty or stately look, stare, surliness, or surly look" and "A little gratel room wherein a new prisoner is set, and must continue some hours, that the Jailer's ordinary servants may the better take notice of his face."

Adopted as a general term in U.S., 1880s, replacing earlier dead house, etc. In newspaper slang, "collection of pre-written obituary material of living persons" (1903), hence "library of clips, photos, etc.," 1918.

来自辞典例句

2. I have often seen drowned men laid out at the morgue.

我经常在验尸所见到陈放着淹死者的尸体.

来自辞典例句

3. When I arrived, I saw a car from the morgue.

当我到的时候, 我看到一个车子从停尸房出来.

来自电影对白

4. We avoid unnecessary contact and stay together until we reach the morgue.

我们避免不必要的接触且我们得在一起直达停尸间,明白么?

来自电影对白

5. Where are you going to take her first, the hospital or the morgue?

你准备先带她去哪?医院还是太平间?

来自电影对白