Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun plural The earthy or mineral particles of combustible substances remaining after combustion, as of wood or coal.
  • noun plural Specifically: The remains of the human body when burnt, or when “returned to dust” by natural decay.
  • noun plural The color of ashes; deathlike paleness.
  • noun plural with humble expression of grief or repentance; -- from the method of mourning in Eastern lands.
  • noun plural the loose, earthy matter, or small fragments of stone or lava, ejected by volcanoes.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Plural form of ash.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • _Dust and ashes, dust and ashes_, echoes from the gray walls, the mouldering thatch of the _souks_, the long lamentable song of the blind beggars sitting in rows under the feet of the camels and asses.

    In Morocco Edith Wharton 1899

  • Discuss why the phoenix rising from the ashes is an inspiring image for African-Americans emerging from the slave era in

    Red River by Lalita Tademy: Questions 2007

  • I glanced warily at him, for I was on my knees taking the ashes from the stove.

    Chapter 9 2010

  • Blige and Jennifer Hudson left the stage in ashes and left many wondering if any acts on Sunday's Grammy Awards would match their vocal firepower.

    Stars warm up for the main event at Pre-Grammy Gala 2010

  • They were all that were left of Pauloo, which likewise was in ashes, for a third schooner had come in through the Pauloo Passage.

    YAH! YAH! YAH! 2010

  • He emptied the ashes from the stoves, brought up the coal and kindling, and lighted the fires before the most energetic one of them was at his desk.

    The Mexican 2010

  • This Praise, which would be unmeaning Flattery if inscribed over human ashes, is but a just tribute to the Memory of Boatswain, a Dog.

    We’re going to meet Charles « Bodhicitta 2008

  • This Praise, which would be unmeaning Flattery if inscribed over human ashes, is but a just tribute to the Memory of Boatswain, a Dog.

    2008 June « Bodhicitta 2008

  • Fifth, what burns my ashes is that ignorant conservatives are still trying to spread the LIE that Barack Obama is an Islamist or, to be more correct, a Muslim.

    duh pookie 2008

  • As I look out my window I see mounds of ashes from the inferno that occured when Lake Winnipeg boiled over.

    Things unsaid 2008

Comments

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  • The Ashes = 'the trophy, in the form of an urn containing a cremated cricket stump, kept permanently in England, played for by England and Australia in test cricket'. - Macquarie dictionary

    September 14, 2007

  • I first discovered this in one of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide books, being completely unfamiliar with the sport of cricket. If I recall correctly, the ashes were actually the remains of some vitally important intergalactic something-or-other, and caused quite the ruckus when the old owners came back for it.

    There was also an elaborate explanation for the sport itself, which was actually started millennia ago as a distasteful parody of the slaughtering of an entire alien race on a planet known as Krikkit. Over time humans forgot about the creatures of Krikkit and the origin of the game, and continued to play the barbaric thing; for that reason much of the rest of the galaxy viewed the people of Earth (or at least Britain) as absurdly coarse and insensitive. I might have some of the details wrong, but anything by Douglas Adams is worth reading several times over. ;-)

    September 15, 2007

  • Haha. Yay for Douglas Adams. And cricket is a rather strange game. Test cricket matches can be played over 5 days, for example, and I mean all day, for 5 days. In the hot hot sun.

    September 15, 2007

  • And cold cold moon, apparently. ;-)

    September 17, 2007

  • RIP, Frank McCourt.

    July 20, 2009

  • Hear hear.

    July 20, 2009