English

The Cairn of Gavrinis, Brittany

Noun

cairn ‎(plural cairns)

1. A rounded or conical heap of stones erected by early inhabitants of the British Isles, apparently as a sepulchral monument.
   • 1826, Thomas Campbell, Glenara, in The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell, page 105,

   "Now here let us place the gray stone of her cairn: / Why speak ye no word!"—said Glenara the stern.

2. A pile of stones heaped up as a landmark, to guide travelers on land or at sea, or to arrest attention, as in surveying, or in leaving traces of an exploring party, etc.
3. A cairn terrier.

Derived terms

• cairned adj
• cairn terrier

Synonyms

• burial mound

Translations

References

• cairn in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913