lych-gate

Also found in: Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

lych-gate

or lych gate also lich gate (lĭch′gāt′)

A roofed gateway to a churchyard used originally as a resting place for a bier before burial.

[Middle English lycheyate : lyche, corpse, body (from Old English līc; see līk- in Indo-European roots) + gate, yate, gate; see gate¹.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

Chattering sadly to each other, the mourners passed through the lych-gate and traversed the chestnut avenues that led down to the village.

View in context

Emergency services were called to St Agnes Church off Colmore Crescent, in Moseley, after a Vauxhall Zafira hit the lych-gate, just before 1.45am yesterday.

Two injured and church lych-gate damaged in car smash

The lych-gate stood and showed me, and I felt The pebbles teach my feet.

THE CHURCH ELEGY: RECUPERATING ANGLICAN MEMORY IN POST-WAR ENGLISH POETRY

"It was originally intended that they should walk through the grounds and so enter the church by a side door, but owing to the inclement weather they drove down the drive from the hall and along the road to the lych-gate.

NOSTALGIA: A ROYAL HONEYMOON... IN THE BLACK COUNTRY; DAN SHAW Black Country Bugle

Frustratingly, there was no initial or christian name and there is no entry on the lych-gate.