Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Pertaining or relating to arable or plowed land.
- noun A funeral feast; a wake.
- Connected with or relating to funeral celebrations.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun North of Eng. A funeral feast.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
funeral feast orwake , as was traditional in Scotland and the North of England. - adjective Connected with or relating to funeral celebrations.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Middle English arvell, from Old Norse erfiöl, from erfiöl ("a funeral feast"), from arfr ("inheritance") + öl ("ale"). Cognate with Danish arveøl ("a wake, funeral feast"). More at erf, ale.
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Examples
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Much New England rum was consumed at this gathering, and also before the procession to the grave, and after the interment the whole party returned to the house for an "arval," and drank again.
Customs and Fashions in Old New England Alice Morse Earle 1881
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Afterward he and her father honored her by an arval to which they bade the whole neighborhood come, and which lasted three days.
Time Patrolman Anderson, Poul, 1926-2001 1983
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"There be always a great arval feast after the funeral to which all friends are bidden."
The Evolution of an English Town Gordon Home 1923
qms commented on the word arval
For mortals the visit is brief
And time a deceiver and thief,
And yet I must marvel
At assuaging arval.
The coronach tempers our grief.
December 27, 2017