Definition of "funeral"

funeral

/ˈfjuːnəɹəl/

noun
plural funerals
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.
  Quotations
  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.
adjective
not generally comparable, comparative more funeral, superlative most funeral
1. (uncommon) Alternative form of funereal
  Quotations
  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