MEANING
A roofed gateway at the entrance to a churchyard.
Use it for
identifying the covered entrance to a churchyard; placing mourners at a churchyard threshold; describing shelter at the edge of a burial groundNames a recognizable churchyard threshold useful in funeral and Gothic settings, not merely any old gate. Writing functions: Funereal / Gothic.
Words that belong together
- a churchyard lychgate
- a timber lychgate
- beneath the lychgate
On the page
They waited beneath the lychgate while the rain passed over the graves.
A new chain secured the lychgate, but the roof still sagged at one corner.
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- lychgate
Usage notes
Countable noun: lychgate, lychgates. Lichgate is an alternate spelling of the same word, not another entry. A roof is characteristic; an ordinary uncovered gate is not necessarily a lychgate. Register: neutral. Commonness: uncommon; especially familiar in British churchyard description (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
Keep a thought for later. Sign in to save privately.