Other Definitions
morgue (dict)
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MorgueA morgue is a building or room (as in a hospital) used for the storage of human remains. Probably because it is in a sense where the "dead bodies" are kept, the term morgue is also used to refer to the room where newspapers and magazines keep back issues and other historical references. The word is predominately American English. It originally referred to a building in Paris, France, the Morgue, where bodies were kept until identified. The term morgue is derived from French morguer, to look at solemnly, to defy. The term was first used to describe the inner wicket of a prison, where prisoners were kept for some time, that the jailers and turnkeys might view them at their leisure, so as to be able to recognize them when occasion required. In regards to dead people, the name was first given to a building in Paris which in the middle of the fifth century was part of the Châtelet and was used for the keeping and identification of unknown corpses. Morgue or mortuary cold chamber: The mortuary cold chamber is used to keep the deceased the time needed for the recognition and before the burials. There is two types of mortuary cold chambers: Positive temperature: +2/+4 C which is the most usual for keeping the bodies a few days or a few week but the decomposition of the corpse is still running. Negative temperature: -15C/-25C which is usual for the forensic institutes specially for the bodies which have not been yet identified. In that case, the body is completely frozen and the decomposition totally stopped. In many countries, the family have to make the burial within 72 hours but in others countries (Africa) it is usual that the burial takes place some weeks or some months after the death. That is the reason why some corpses can stay one or two years at the hospital or in a funeral home. When the family has enough money to organise the burial ceremony, they take the corpse from the cold chamber. Morgues have been constructed in all large cities in the United States; in Boston (1851), in New York, (1866), in Chicago, (1872), etc.
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