Adipocere - Also known as grave wax. A cheese-like, grayish substance that may result from a corpse left in cool moist soil or water.

Administrator - Any court appointed person or body put in charge of the estate of a person who passed on without a will.

Advance Directives Documents such as DNR's and living wills.

Airtray Container - used for shipping caskets or bodies by air.

Algor Mortis - The cooling of the body immediately after death to room temperature and temporary stiffening of the muscles.

Altar Tomb - A solid, rectangular, raised tomb or gravemarker resembling ceremonial altars of classical antiquity and Judeo-Christian ritual.

Alternative Container - An unfinished wood box or other non-metal receptacle without ornamentation, often made of fiberboard, pressed wood or composition materials, and generally lower in cost than caskets.

Anatomical Gifts - Organ donations.

Antemortem - Before death.

Apoptosis - The death of cells as a function of their intrinsic mechanisms.

Apprentice - The name generally applied to an individual learning the embalming and funeral directing procedure under the supervision of a licensee.

Arrangement Conference - Initial meeting between funeral director and customer.

Arrangement Room - A room of the funeral home used to make the necessary funeral arrangements with the family of the deceased.

Aron - Wooden casket with wooden pegs used by Jews.

Arterial Preservative - Chemical used by embalmers to replace blood.

Ashes - Burned remains from cremation.

Aspirate - Process of withdrawing fluids and gases from the abdominal cavity.

Attorney In Fact - Any person granted the power of attorney.

Autolysis - The breakdown of the corpse by the body's digestive enzymes.

Autopsy - From the Greek for to see for one's self, it is a medical procedure conducted following a death to determine it's cause through examination of the various body parts. Also called a necropsy.

Background Drapes - Decorative drapes (usually made of velour) arranged on a frame and placed behind the casket as a background.

Bar Minen - Jewish term for dead person.

Barrow - Mound of stones or dirt on top of grave.

"Belly Punchers" - Derogatory term for those who use trocars to inject emblaming fluids into cavities from others in the industry.

Beneficiary - Any recipient of the proceeds of a will or insurance policy.

Bereaved - (N) The immediate family of the deceased. (V) suffering from grief upon the death of a loved one.

Bequest - Any gift of property made in a will.

Bevel Marker- A rectangular gravemarker, set low to the ground, having straight sides and uppermost, inscribed surface raked at a low angle.

Bier - Stand for corpse prior to burial and for transportation to the grave. Called a coffin in Scotalnd.

Bleaching Agent - Chemical used to lighten skin before cosmetics are applied to remove blemishes on corpse.

Bolster - a form of gravestone where a cylinder (usually at least 18 inches in diameter and 36 or more inches long) rests on its side on a footing. Bolsters were most common in the early twentieth century

Brain Death - Nothing functions in a brain-dead person without the help of machines.

Burial - means the disposition of human remains, traditionally below ground.

Burial Certificate or Permit - A legal paper issued by the local government authorizing burial. The permit may authorize earth burial or cremation or removal to a distant point.

Burial Cache - A place of concealment for burial remains and objects.

Burial Chamber - a repository for corpses.

Burial Chest - Antiquated term for a casket.

Burial Garments - Wearing apparel made especially for the dead.

Burial Ground Also "burying ground;" same as "graveyard".

Burial Insurance: This type of insurance policy pays the policy holder in terms of a funeral service and other merchandise instead of cash.

Burial Mound - A mass of earth, and sometimes stone or timber, erected to protect burial chambers for the dead.

Burial, Primary - a burial where the body is placed in its grave shortly after death, with no prior or temporary burial. Primary burial is the most common form of burial in most modem cemetery traditions

Burial, Secondary - a burial where the body has spent considerable time (often several years) in a temporary resting place before removal to its final resting place. Secondary burials have been fairly common in various death traditions around the world and persist mostly in traditions that have strong non-Western folk elements

Burial Axis- the line that follows along the length of the body in a burial; the "length" of the grave

Burial Site - A place for disposal of burial remains, including various forms of encasement and platform burials that are not excavated in the ground or enclosed by mounded earth.

Cadaver - Corpse.

Cadaver Carrier - Tool used to move corpses to morgue from hospitals.

Cairn - A mound of stones marking a burial place.

Calcination - Cremation from heat rather than flames.

Cannula Tool - for injecting embalming fluid in arteries.

Canopic Jars - Containers for organs or ashes.

Canopy - A roof like structure projecting from the outside wall over the driveway allowing passengers to board and alight from vehicles without being directly exposed to the elements - sometimes construed as a portable canvas shelter used to cover the grave area during committal service.

Capillary Flush - Rosy cheeks resulting from embalming.

Cardio-pulmonary Resuscitation - A person will use what is commomly referred to a CPR to try and save the life of someone suffering from cardiac arrest. This might include massage and/or mouth to mouth resuscitation.

Cardio-respiratory Death - When the heart or lungs stop working, it is called a cardio-respiratory death. This is the most common definition of death.

Casket - includes a coffin and means a rigid container designed for the encasement of human remains and customarily constructed of wood or metal, ornamented and lined with fabric. One can choose from mahogany, walnut, maple, cherry, ash, pine and oak. The two basic shapes of caskets include rounded and squared. Stainless steel and bronze are also used.

Casket Coach - Hearse - A motor coach designed and used for the conveyance of the casketed remains from the place the funeral service is conducted to the cemetery. Also known as a Funeral Coach.

Casketing - Placing of the body in the casket upon completion of embalming, dressing and cosmetizing.

Casket Lining - The cloth lining can be made of synthetic or natural materials, and the most popular sewing designs included; loose fold, heat sheared, sewn shirring, or tailored tufted.

Casket Rack - A device which allows caskets to be placed one on top of the other for display purposes.

Casket Veil - A silk or net transparent covering for the casket for the purpose of keeping flies and other insects from the remains.

Catacomb - An underground cemetery, with chambers or tunnels having places for graves

Catafalque - A stand upon which the casketed remains rest while instate and during the funeral service.

Cavity Embalming - The use of cavity fluid to replace internal fluids in the abdoment.

Cemetery - An area set aside for burial of the dead; in Latin American culture known as "campo santo," or holy field.

Cenotaph - A monument, usually of imposing scale, erected to commemorate one whose burial remains are at a separate location; literally "empty tomb."

Centerpiece - a sculpture or other monument, usually in the middle of a cemetery, commemorating no one in particular, but for the benefit of all buried there. Centerpieces usually are religious and are quite prominent in many Catholic traditions, as with the ornate crucifixion scenes of French-Canadian cemeteries and the large crosses of Mexican cemeteries.

Cerecloth - Fabric used to cover corpse soaked in adhesive to hold it close.

Certificate of Sisposition - Document issued permitting burial or cremation.

Certified Death Certificate - A legalized copy of the original certificate, issued upon request by the local government for the purpose of substantiating various claims by the family of the deceased such as insurance and other death benefits.

Chapel - A place of worship or meditation in a cemetery or mausoleum, either a freestanding building or a room set apart for commemorative services.

Charnel (house) - A place for storing bones or corpses.

Cherrah Kaddisha H- oly Brotherhood in Judaism dedicated to funerals and burial.

Chest Marker - A solid, rectangular, raised gravemarker resembling a chest or box-like sarcophagus.

Chin Rest - Tool for keep mouth of corpse closed.

Christian Burial Permit - Document from church stating a person is eligible for rites.

Christian Prayer Service - Prayers said in lieu of rosary by Roman Catholic Church at wake.

Church Truck - A collapsible catafalque used for funerals.

Cinerarium - Place for storing ashes, kept in cinerary jars.

Cinerary Urn - A receptacle for cremation remains, or ashes, in the shape of a vase.

Codicil - An amendment to a will changing the original provisions.

Columbarium - A vault or structure for storage of cinerary urns.

Coffin - A wedge shaped burial case, usually eight- sided.

Commingling: The mixing of cremated remains of more than one decedent.

Committal Chamber - Entrance to crematorium.

Committal Service - The final portion of the funeral service at which time the deceased is interred or entombed.

Community Mausoleum - means a structure, above ground, or partially above and partially below ground, containing crypts and niches used or intended for use by members of the general public.

Community Niche - means a common area where several cremations containers may be placed.

Companion or Double (Multiple) Lawn Crypts - means an Interment Space in the Cemetery which contains a pre-constructed, pre-buried vault capable of holding two or more caskets.

Companion Lawn Niche - means a space in an urn garden, designed to accommodate two cremated remains.

Companion Lawn Urn - means a receptacle into which two cremated remains may be placed, made of bronze, bronze plate, durable plastic, or a combination thereof.

Companion Mausoleum Crypt - means a space in a mausoleum capable of holding two caskets.

Companion Columbarium Niche - means a space in a Columbarium, designed to accommodate two cremated remains.

Concurrent Drainage - Removing blood while at the same time adding embalming fluid.

Container - A pressboard or fiberboard box the size of a casket usually used for immediate/direct cremations; alternative container.

Coped stone - any stone with a coping, especially one with a peaked (roof-shaped) top. Coped stones were common in the British cemetery tradition from the eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries.

Coping - a narrow ornamental thickening and overhang of the margin of the top of a gravestone. The term comes from a sort of roof element, and a coping resembles a small, overhanging roof.

Coroner - A public official and in some cases a constitutional officer whose duty it is to investigate the case of death if it appears to be from other than natural causes, or if there was no physician in attendance for a long time prior to death.

Coroner's Inquest - This form of inquest is ordered as part of a court process. The aim of a coroner's inquest is to discover the facts that determined the death, if the death occurred in unexplained, violent, and/or accidental circumstances. A coroner's investigation of a death will be deemed a necessity if the person died as a result of pregnancy, as a result of violence, malice or malpractice; during or shortly after a surgical procedure; from an untreated disease; as a result of the nature of the deceased's line of work or in a psychiatric institution or home for the elderly. The coroner will lay down suggestions and/or guidelines to prevent any further deaths, under those or similar circumstances, from occurring. The coroner has no legal authority to accuse someone of causing a death; neither is this his/her intention in the investigation.

Corpsicle - Tactless term for cryonically preserved body.

Cortege - The funeral procession.

Cosmetology - Utilization of cosmetics to restore life like appearance to the deceased.

Cot - The stretcher-like carrier used to remove deceased persons from the place of death to the funeral home.

Cranial Embalming - Embalming the inside of the skull via the nose.

Cremated Remains - means the remains after the cremation process is completed. Also Cremains.

Cremation Area - An area where ashes of the cremated dead are scattered or contained.

Cremation Chamber: The enclosed space in which the cremation of human remains is performed.

Cremation Permit - A certificate issued by local government authorizing cremation of the deceased.

Cremation Vault - means a container for an urn made of concrete, metal, fiberglass, or durable plastic.

Crematorium - A furnace for incineration of the dead; also crematory.

Crown - the central hump in a crowned gravestone.

Crown, Lateral - on a crowned gravestone, one of the (usually lower) humps on the sides.

Crowned - referring to a gravestone shape where the top rises in several (usually three) humps, usually with the central one higher than the others. see crown; crown, lateral.

Cryogenics - Also call cryogeny. The study of low temperatures and their production - now being applied to cryoincs, the goal of preserving humans through cryonic suspension or cryonic statis until a time when they can be resuscitated. Such reanimates are called cryonauts in some science fiction.

Crypt - An enclosure for a casket in a mausoleum or underground chamber, as beneath a church.

Deanimate - Die Counteracted by post-cryonic reanimation.

Descansos - Roadside crosses, as those erected when there is a car accident.

Death - Cessation of all vital functions without the capability of resuscitation.

Death Certificate - A legal paper signed by the attending physician showing the cause of death and other vital statistical data pertaining to the deceased.

Death Cults - Groups venerating the dead in their mythology, a sort of necrolatry where they believe they gain powers from or must appease those who have passed on.  

Death Duty - Tax on inherited property, called also inheritance tax, estate tax or death tax.

Death Instinct - An impulse suggested by Freud that opposes that towards life - an inclination to destruction and decay, also called Thanatos. Similar to a death wish.  

Death Knell - Something announcing death, as of the church bells of yore.

Death Mask - Cast made of face after death, used in ancient Rome by actors to play the dead and by Europeans to adorn the buried corpse. Madame Tussaud of Wax Museum fame started out making death masks of those killed by the guillotine during the French Revolution.

Death Notice - That paragraph in the classified section of a newspaper publicizing the death of a person and giving those details of the funeral service the survivors wish to have published. Most such notices list the names of the relatives of the deceased.

Death Penalty - another name for capital punishment

Death Point - level of an environmental factor beyond which a species can no longer survive.

Death Qualify - a legal term for excusing those opposed to the death penalty from serving on a jury.

Death Rate - number of deaths in a population over a period of time, usually per thousand per year. Also called a fatality rate.

Death Rattle - noise made by dying person as breath passes through mucus when the cough reflex is lost.

Death Row - the place where condemned criminals await their execution. Also called death house.

Death Seat - the seat opposite the driver of a car because it is the most dangerous. An australian term - in the united states the seat is called shotgun - a reference to stagecoach days.

Death Warrant - Document authorizing execution. Also a destructive incident - deathblow.

Death's Head - The human skull, a symbol of death.

Decapitate - Remove the head of. Behead.

Deceased - (N) one in whom all physical life has ceased; (V) dead.

Decedent - Dead person.

Decomposition - The breakdown of the body after death.

Dental Tie - A way of keeping the mouth on a corpse closed.

Dewar - Chamber for storing cryogenically-preserved bodies.

Die - Stop living.

Direct Burial - The body is transferred from the place of death to the funeral home, placed in a casket and then delivered directly to the burial site. There is no public viewing or graveside services.

Direct Cremation - The body is transferred from the place of death to the funeral home, placed in a container and delivered directly to a crematory. There is no public viewing.

Dirge - mournful musical composition, poem, or other work

Disembowel - To remove the entrails from. Also remove meaning.

Disinter - To remove the remains from the burial place; to dig up.

Disinterment: The act of removing human remains that have been interred.

Display Room - That room in the funeral home in which caskets, Urns, burial garments and sometimes vaults are displayed.

Disposition - The final resting place for the body or for cremated remains. Choices include burial of the body in the earth or a mausoleum; burial, scattering or deposit of cremated remains in an urn for placement in a niche or taking home; donation of the body to a research facility; or burial at sea (not permitted in the Great Lakes).

DNR - An order to not resuscitate in the event of failure of breathing or heart. CPR will not be initiated.

Door Badge - A floral spray placed on the door of a residence wherein death has occurred.

Dressed - referring to stone whose surface has been completely smoothed or otherwise finished.

Durable Power Of Attorney For Health Care - Document allowing others to make health care decisions when one is not able to. Also called health care power of attorney or health care directive

Earth Burial - interment of a body in a grave.

Elegy - Poem mourning someone or something that has been lost.

Embalmer - One who disinfects or preserves dead human bodies by the injection or external application of antiseptics, disinfectants or preservative fluids; prepares human bodies for transportation which are dead of contagious or infectious diseases; or uses derma surgery or plastic art for restoring mutilated features.

Embalmer's Gray - The gray that poor positioning causes from blood moving into the head in a corpse.

Embalming: A procedure whereby human remains are chemically treated by injection for temporary preservation including, but not limited to, the act of disinfecting, preserving, and restoring the human remains to a natural life-like appearance.

Embalming Fluid - Liquid chemicals used in preserving a dead body.

Embalming Powder - Dry substance used to preserve surface.

Embalming Table - An operating table usually constructed of metal with a porcelain surface upon which the remains are placed for embalming.
Emerging Stone - a type of gravestone where one portion of the stone has been fully carved, while another portion remains undressed or only partially dressed, giving the impression of a stone that has been incompletely carved. The emerging stone was most common in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and symbolized a life partially completed but cut short. Emerging stones are nearly always of granite.

Encasement: The placement of the human remains in a rigid container, including but not limited to, a casket or urn.

Endowment Care Fund: The money collected by a cemetery that is placed in trust for purposes of maintenance and upkeep of the cemetery grounds.

Epitaph - An inscription on a gravemarker identifying and/or commemorating the dead.

Escheat - The state takes over the estate if there are no beneficiaries or heirs.

Estate Tax - Federal and state taxes applied to any property that is transferred at death.

Euthanasia - From the Greek for good death, it is the mercy killing of someone with terminal or incurable disease, a coup de grace.

Active Euthanasia - This is caused by the active intervention by a doctor to cause death.

Passive Euthanasia - When medical treatment is withheld to allow the patient to die sooner, it is called Passive Euthanasia.

Voluntary Euthanasia - Sometimes a person requests to be assisted to die due to their incurable illness. This, however, is not legal and many are trying to change this law which they consider to be unjust.

Involuntary Euthanasia - When someone ends the life of an able patient, without his/her permission, it is considered murder.

Non-voluntary Euthanasia - Sometimes a dying person is unable to give permission to end his/her life and someone else does it with the best of intentions.

Doctor-assisted suicide - Very close to voluntary euthanasia but the doctor merely prescribes the drug. He does not give it.

Excarnation - The use of animals to dispose of human remains or to strip off flesh.

Executor/Executrix - Male or female named as the person who administers an estate.

Exedra - A permanent open air masonry bench with high back, usually semicircular in plan, patterned after the porches or alcoves of classical antiquity where philosophical discussions were held; in cemeteries, used as an element of landscape design and as a type of tomb monument.

Exhume - To dig up the remains; to remove from the place of burial.

Family Car - That limousine in the funeral procession set aside for the use of the immediate family.

Family Cemetery - A small, private burial place for members of the immediate or extended family; typically found in rural areas, and often, but not always, near a residence; different from a family plot, which is an area reserved for family members within a larger cemetery.

Family Room - A specially arranged room in the funeral home which affords the family privacy at the time of the funeral service.

Family Stone - a gravestone that marks the entire family's plot, not a particular individual's grave. In the United States, such stones are most common in the European traditions. Sometimes a family stone also will have the names and dates of the individuals of the family carved on it, but there usually will be separate stones for the individuals.

Final Rites - The funeral service.

Finial - an ornament atop a post or similar element in furniture or other craft. Finials can occur on the posts of grave fences or (less commonly) on grave markers themselves. Finials always have radial symmetry, as if formed on a lathe.

First Call - The initial visit of the funeral director to the place of death for the purpose of removing the deceased and to secure certain information for which he has immediate need.

Flush marker - A flat, rectangular gravemarker set flush with the lawn or surface of the ground.

Floaters - Corpses in water that have developed sufficient gas in them to rise to the surface.

Flower Car - A vehicle used for the transportation of flower pieces from the funeral home to the church and/or cemetery.

Flower Racks and Stands - Wooden or metal stands and racks of varying heights used for banking flowers around the casket.

Footboard - a flat, slab-like wooden grave marker placed at the foot end of a grave. Footboards are used only in conjunction with headboards and usually are considerably smaller and less ornate, often bearing only initials as inscriptions.

Footing - a slab, usually of concrete, that is horizontal and flush with the surface of the ground, on which a grave marker is placed. The footing itself usually is unornamented and considered structural, not a part of the marker itself.

Footstone - a flat, slab-like stone grave marker placed at the foot end of a grave. Footstones, are used only in conjunction with headstones and usually are considerably smaller and less ornate, often bearing only initials as inscriptions

Forensic pathologist - Pathologist who produces medical information for the legal profession. Something combining both professions is called medicolegal.

Formaldehyde Gray - Gray color resulting from the preservative formaldehyde's interaction with blood's hemoglobin. Formaldehyde is present in embalming fluid.

Formalin T- issue preservative used by pathologists, containing formaldehyde and water.

Foundation - means the base or footing on which a memorial is installed.

Fratricide The killing of one's brother.

Funeral Coach - See Casket Coach.

Funeral Arrangements - Funeral director's conference with the family for the purpose of completing financial and service details of a funeral.

Funeral Director - A professional who prepares for the burial or other disposition of dead human bodies, supervises such burial or disposition, maintains a funeral establishment for such purposes, counsels with survivors. Synonym: mortician, undertaker.

Funeral Home - A building used for the purpose of embalming, arranging and conducting funerals.

Funeral Lighting - Illumination of body in casket.

Funeral Service - 1) The profession which deals with the handling of dead human bodies; 2) The religious or other rites conducted immediately before final disposition of the dead human body.

Funeral Spray - A collective mass of cut flowers sent to the residence of the deceased or to the funeral home as a floral tribute to the deceased.

Garden - means a section of the Cemetery containing Interment Spaces which may be identified by a particular area or section by name, and by the type, size, design and material of memorial authorized.

Gatehouse - A building at the main entrance to a cemetery that is controlled by a gate; a shelter or habitation for the gate keeper.

Genocide S- ystematic extermination of nation, race, or political or ethnic group.  

Ghost - The spirit of a dead person returning.

Ghusl - Washing of the body in preparation for burial in Muslim religion.

Gibbet - A cage for corpses of criminals to be displayed until they rotted, as well as a gallows.

Grave - means a space of land in the Cemetery used or intended to be used for the burial of human remains.

Grave, Mass - a grave where many people are buried together. In most historic societies, mass graves have been expedients for emergencies when death was massive and rapid, as during an epidemic, war, or disaster.

Grave, Multiple - a grave where two or more bodies are buried together. A multiple grave may be a mass grave or simply a grave where members of a family or other social groups are placed upon death. Multiple graves are rather uncommon in recent historic societies.

Grave, Outlying - a grave that is located well away from others. Such graves often are given to members of society deemed unacceptable. In Catholic cemeteries, outlying graves may be for excommunicates, suicides, and the like.

Grave Curb - a low border, usually of stone or concrete, surrounding a grave or plot, beginning slightly underground and extending no more than a few inches above the surface of the ground. A grave curb is open in the middle, although the central area may be filled with gravel, scraped earth, or lawn. comp. grave fence; paving.

Grave Depression - a hollow in the surface of the ground over a grave, brought about by the collapse of a disintegrating coffin. syn. grave, sunken.

Grave Fence - a fence surrounding a grave or plot completely, usually one or more feet high. A grave fence can be of the most homely materials or of elegant and expensive commercial fencing. e.g. cerquita. comp. Grave curb; grave rail.

Gravehouse - a ramada (roof with comer posts supporting it) over a grave, or a shed over a grave. The gravehouse is known especially from the American South. It probably developed there from local Indian usage, but it may have developed from a weaker tradition in England.

Grave Lamp - any type of lighting device placed on a grave, apparently symbolizing eternal light (in the Judeo-Christian tradition). It may be kept lighted or not; it may even be incapable of being lighted, as with a light bulb placed on the surface of a grave, a fairly common grave offering in various parts of the American South.

Grave Landscaping - any modification of the grave area in terms of plantings, gardens, fountains, or the like.

Grave Liner - A receptacle made of concrete, metal or wood into which the casket is placed as an extra precaution in protecting the remains from the elements. This is required by most cemeteries to prevent the collapse of a grave after burial. State law, however, usually does not require a grave liner.

Grave (or Memorial) Marker - A method of identifying the occupant of a particular grave. Permanent grave markers are usually of metal or stone which gives such data as the name of the individual, date and place of birth, date and place of death.

Grave Offering - any item sacrificed or donated at a grave. A grave offering may be durable and visible (e.g., shells, jewelry), ephemeral (e.g., wine or beer poured into the ground), or anywhere in between (e.g., flowers). Grave offerings may be conceived as items of use to the deceased in the afterlife, as items to enhance or commemorate the status of the deceased (and his or her survivors), or as simple obligations. A grave offering may be made at the time of burial and included in the coffin or grave pit with the body, or it may be placed on the grave at any time after burial. e.g. libation. Grave pit the actual hole into which a body is placed, including a filled-in hole. Grave post a simple wooden post used as a grave marker.

Grave Rail - a wooden rail placed along the long side (burial axis) of a grave on the surface as a grave marker. Normally, grave rails form a pair, one on each side of the grave.

Grave Robber T- hose who rob graves, either for the corpses to sell to science or for the goods a person may be buried with, as was the case with the Egyptian pyramids.

Graveside Services - Formal committal services conducted at the cemetery.

Graveyard - An area set aside for burial of the dead; a common burying ground of a church or community.

Grave Shelter - A rectangular, roofed structure usually of wood, covering a gravesite, enclosed by boards or slats or supported by poles; in tribal custom used to contain burial offerings and shelter the spirit of the dead; also grave house.

Grief - From the same root as grave, aggravate, baritone. Mental anguish, annoyance, regret, trouble, grievance.

Grief Counselor - A newly created position to help people through their pain following a death.

Grief Therapist - Industry term for a mortician.

Grim Reaper - A mythological figure representing death, a skeleton carrying a scythe with which he harvests lives.

Hanging - A method of execution where a hangman's noose is put around a persons neck and the person is raised from the ground, either via suspension from a tree or a drop away floor on a gibbet or gallows. To string up.

Hara-kiri - Ritual suicide under Bushido, the Japanese samurai code, that involves disembowelment of one's self. The abdomen was cut horizontally, a vertical thrust was made, and a friend provided decapitation.

Hardening Compound - Stuff used to make tissues solid in a corpse by embalmers.

Headboard - a flat, slab-like wooden grave marker placed at the head end of a grave. Headboards may be used alone or in conjunction with footboards. see footboard. comp. headstone.

Head Freeze - Putting strong embalming fluid at high pressure into the head and neck to preserve without swelling. Also called instant tissue fixation.

Head Rest - Device used to keep head in place when embalming.

Headstone - An upright stone marker placed at the head of the deceased; usually inscribed with demographic information, epitaphs, or both; sometimes decorated with a carved motif.

Impressed - decoration is made by pressing something against the surface of the concrete while it is wet, then removing it, leaving an impression. This is fairly common technique in various folk cemetery traditions, with leaves and crucifixes among the more commonly impressed items. incising the creating of aline by drawing a stylus or similar tool through the surface of a wet material before it hardens.

Incising - is a common method of making inscriptions or producing artwork on concrete markers, particularly in folk traditions.

Hearse - A vehicle for the transportation of corpses from funeral to burial.

Heart Tap - Putting embalming fluid right into the heart via injection.

Heaven T- he place of residence for God, the angels, and admitted souls, a land of happiness. Also the sky, a state of bliss, God.

Hell - A place for condemned souls, devils, Satan. Also separation from God, an abode for the dead, the underworld, a place of evil, sin, dark powers, scolding, mischievousness, receptacle, intensive, gambling house.

Hermetically Sealed - Almost completely airtight - with caskets it prevents the release of smells.

Hesped - Eulogy delivered by rabbi for the dead in Judaism.

Homicide - The killing of a person by another person, or the person who does so.

Honorary Pallbearers - Friends or members of a religious, social or fraternal organization who act as an escort or honor guard for the deceased. Honorary pallbearers do not carry the casket.

Hospice - An organization, staffed mainly by volunteers, dedicated to the care of the terminally ill who choose to die at home.

Humectant - Chemical used to counter dehydration in corpses.

Hypodermic Embalming - Injecting embalming fluids into various body parts.

Hypostasis - Also called livor mortis, this is the movement of blood to the lower parts of the body, where it is need most.

Immortal - Not dying, not forgotten. Relating to immortality, indefinitely growing.  

Immurement - To entomb in walls.

Inferno - A place resembling hell in heat, death or suffering.

Inhumation - Burial.

Initial Stone - a gravestone with initials carved at the base as a maker's mark

Inscription - writing on a grave marker. By convention, this term is used regardless of the technique used to render the writing (e.g., carving, painting, etc.). The inscription usually includes biographical information and the epitaph, if any. -inscription, relict the traces of an inscription, otherwise destroyed, that may reveal that inscription.

Inset - referring to the placing of objects in the concrete of a grave marker when it was wet

Inquest - An official inquiry or examination usually before a jury to determine the case of death.

Interment - A burial; the act of committing the dead to a grave.

Interment Space - means a grave, crypt, niche or plot.

Intermittent Tissue Drainage - Only draining fluid occasionally during embalming so that pressure causes movement to smaller vessels.

Intestate - Having left behind no legal will.

In State - The custom of availing the deceased for viewing by relatives and friends prior to or after the funeral service.

Inurnment - means the placement of cremated human remains in an urn and a placement of such urn in a niche, crypts, grave or other suitable location in the Cemetery.

Itai - A person's remains, which is different from the corpse of a person and has hopes and wants.

Janazah - Prayers said for the dead in Muslim religion.

Ka - The vital energy in life, which required food and drink after death, according to Egyptian myth.

Kaddish - Jewish prayer for the dead.  

Kafan - Wrapping of the corpse in Muslim religion.

Kever - term for the grave in Judaism.

K'vura - Jewish burial ceremony.

Last Offices - British term for the services provided by a nurse for a corpse, such as washing it and covering it.

Last Rites - Christian sacrament or ritual performed for a dying person. Also called the rite of committal.

Lawn Crypt - means Interment Space in the Cemetery which contains a pre-constructed and pre-buried vault capable of holding a casket.

Lawn Niche - means an interment space in an urn garden in the Cemetery used or designated to be used, for the burial of cremated remains.

Lawn Space - means grave space in the Cemetery used or designated to be used, for the burial of human remains.

Lawn Urn - means a receptacle designated for burial into which the cremated human remains of one person are placed, which is usually made of bronze, bronze plate, durable plastics, or a combination thereof.

Lawn Vase - means a receptacle for the placement of flowers on a grave, lawn crypt, lawn niche, or memorial.

Lead Car - The vehicle in which the funeral director and sometimes the clergyman rides. When the procession is formed, the lead car moves to the head of it and leads the procession to the church and/or cemetery.

Ledger - A large rectangular gravemarker usually of stone, set parallel with the ground to cover the grave opening or grave surface.

Ledger Stone - a grave marker that is placed horizontally, flush with the surface of the earth. This style marker has become increasingly popular with cemetery maintenance workers because of the case of mowing grass around and over them.

Lichgate - an arching gate, usually of iron, at the entrance to a cemetery.

Legacy - Something handed down, bequeathed.

Lethal Injection - A method of execution used in capital punishment first utilized in Texas in 1976. Chemicals injected via IV dull the senses, relax muscles to stop breathing and then cause the heart to stop. It is the most popular method today.

Levaya - Funeral procession in Judaism.

Lex Talionis - A fancy word for the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth principle, used to justify capital punishment.

License - An authorization from the state granting permission to perform duties which, without such permission, would be illegal.

Lie in State - To put a prominent corpse on review for the public.

Limousine - An automobile designed to seat five or more persons behind the driver's seat.

Liner - means a container made of concrete, fiberglass, or steel with or without any bottom to be used for burial of a casket.

Living Trust - A trust that has been established during the life of the trustee.

Living Will - A legal document that details the wishes of an individual concerning his or her medical care, especially with respect to life-sustaining technology and resuscitation.

Livor Mortis - See hypostasis.

Lot - means a grave, crypt, niche or lot.

Lowering Device - A mechanism used for lowering the casket into the grave. Apparatus is placed over the open grave which has two or more straps which support the casket over the opening. Upon release of the mechanism, the straps unwind from a cylinder and slowly lower the casket into the grave.

Lych Gate -Traditionally, a roofed gateway to a church graveyard under which a funeral casket was placed before burial; also lich gate; commonly, an ornamental cemetery gateway.

Lynch - To execute without trial, especially hang.

Marker - A monument or memorial to mark the place of burial.

Martyr - One who dies for a cause.

Mass of Angels - Catholic funeral service for children.

Mass of the Resurrection - Catholic rite for burial, once known as the Requiem Mass.

Mausoleum - A monumental building or structure for burial of the dead above ground; a "community" mausoleum is one that accommodates a great number of burials.

Mausoleum Crypt - means a space in a mausoleum capable of holding a casket.

Mausoleum Niche - means a space in a mausoleum or columbarium used, or designated to be used for inurnment of cremated human remains in a urn.

Mausoleum Vase - means a receptacle for the placement of flowers on a crypt or niche.

Medical Examiner - A government official, usually appointed, who has a thorough medical knowledge and whose function is to perform an autopsy on bodies dead from violence, suicide, crime, etc., and to investigate circumstances of death.

Memento Mori - Latin for "remember thy death." A movement in the 1000's to remind people that they must be pious to allow for a good afterlife.

Memorial - means (a) monument, tombstone, grave marker, or headstone identifying a grave or graves, or (b) name plate, name bar, or inscription identifying a crypt or niche.

Memorialization (Cremation) - means the placement of cremated human remains in an Interment Space or scattering in a Scattering Garden within the Cemetery with a marker or cenotaph for name plates.

Memorial Park - A cemetery of the 20th century cared for in perpetuity by a business or nonprofit corporation; generally characterized by open expanses of greensward with either flush or other regulated gravemarkers; in the last half of the 19th century, those with flush markers were called "lawn" cemeteries.

Memorial Service - A religious service conducted in memory of the deceased without the remains being present.

Memory Picture - The way the body is presented following embalming.

Military Cemetery - A burial ground established for war casualties, veterans, and eligible dependents. Those established by the Federal government include national cemeteries, post cemeteries, soldiers' lots, Confederate and Union plots, and American cemeteries in foreign countries. Many States also have established cemeteries for veterans.

Minister's Room - A room in the funeral home set aside for the clergyman wherein he can robe and make any last minute preparations for the funeral service.

Monolith - A large, vertical stone gravemarker having no base or cap.

Monument - means a memorial made principally of stone which extends above the surface of the earth, in upright form. The dimensions for Monuments allowed by the Cemetery are available to Contractors at the Cemetery office on request.

Morgue - A place to where bodies found dead are removed and exposed pending identification by relatives.

Moribund - Approaching death. Also on the verge of obsolescence.

Mortal - Subject to death. Also human, related to or causing death, intense.

Mortality - Being mortal. Also death, death rate.

Mortcloth - Resuable cloth, especially in Scotland, to cover body or coffin.

Mortician - See funeral director.

Mortuary - A place for preparation of the dead prior to burial or cremation.

Mortuary Science - That part of the funeral service profession dealing with the proper preparation of the body for final disposition.

Mourner - One who is present at the funeral out of affection or respect for the deceased.

Mourning Coach - A car assigned for the immediate family which follows the hearse in the funeral procession.

Multiple Cremations - Cremating serveral bodies at once.

Multiple-site Injection - Embalming performed at various sites concurrently.

Mummy - A body that has been emblamed so as to be preserved. From mummie, a medicine from embalmed corpses, from Arabic word for wax.

Muscular Suture - Keeping a corpse's mouth closed by tying the lower lip to the inner nose.

National Cemetery - One of 130 burial grounds established by the Congress of the United States since 1862 for interment of armed forces servicemen and women whose last service ended honorably. Presently, the Department of Veterans Affairs maintains 114, the National Park Service (Department of the Interior) administers 14, and the Department of the Army has responsibility for two.

Necrobiosis - Decay or death.

Necrogenic - Resulting from corpses.

Necrogeneous - Growing on dead tissue.

Necrolatry - Worshipping corpses.

Necromancy C- ommunicating with the dead to predict the future, black magic, as carried out by a necromancer.

Necrophagous - Feeding on corpses.

Necrophilia - Obsession with death. Erotic attraction to corpses.

Necrophilousfungi or beetle - (as the family Necrophagaus of Clavicron beetles) that feeds on the dead.

Necrophobia - Excessive fear of death or corpses.

Necropolis - A cemetery, especially a large, extensive one in an ancient city or a city of the dead.

Necrosis - Tissue death.

Neomort - Brain dead bodies kept alive by machine.

Neurosuspension - Cryonic preservation of brains, usually still in the head. As opposed to whole-body suspension.

Niche - means a space in a mausoleum or columbarium used or intended to be used for the inurnment of cremated human remains.

Obelisk A four-sided, tapering shaft having a pyramidal point; a gravemarker type popularized by romantic taste for classical imagery.

Obituary - A brief notice of the death of a person, particularly a newspaper notice, which usually lists the name of the deceased, the age, and a biographical sketch. Newspapers may or may not charge for publishing obituaries.

Obsequies - Funeral rites.

Opening and Closing Fees - Cemetery fees for the digging and refilling of a grave.

Organ and Tissue Donation - An option for the parts of a corpse. An organ bank will coordinate the placement of organ or tissue donor's body parts with suitable recipients. The United Network for Organ Sharing coordinates such efforts in the United States.

Ossuary - A receptacle for the bones of the dead.

Overlap - A way to keep a corpse's eyes closed by puttin the top lid over the bottom one.

Pall - Covering on casket during funeral or the coffin itself (i.e. Pall bearers). Also something that obscures or dulls.

Palliate - Relieving, especially the symtoms of disease.

Pallbearers - Individuals whose duty is to carry the casket when necessary during funeral service. Pallbearers in some sections of the country are hired and in other sections are close friends and relatives of the deceased.

Pandemic - A widespread epidemic. Also widespread, an epidemic disease. Prominent epidemics past and future include the plague, influenza, and HIV/AIDS.

Parabiosis - Extension of lives through the infusion of young blood.

Paradise - Eden, a place for good souls after death, beauty, delight.

Paschal Candle - Candle put between casket and altar during Catholic funeral Mass.  

Past Lives - Existences one has had prior to the present one, according to the doctrine of reincarnation.

Pathologist - Study of disease, the manifestation of disease, departure from normality.

Patricide - The killing of one's father.

Paving - a surface of concrete, brick, or stone placed on the ground over a grave. Pavings often are used in conjunction with grave markers, although some traditions (e.g., Mennonites) typically simply incise the inscription into a concrete paving and provide no other marker.

Peristyle - A colonnade surrounding the exterior of a building, such as a mausoleum, or a range of columns supporting an entablature (a beam) that stands free to define an outdoor alcove or open space.

Perpetual Care - Guarantee of eternal cemetery upkeep.

Perpetual Care Trust Funds - A certain portion of the cost of a burial plot is set aside in a trust fund for its ongoing care (usually restricted to grounds keeping, such as lawn cutting, etc.)

Pet Cemetery - An area set aside for burial of cherished animals.

Pillar - a grave marker consisting of a tall, slender, ornate gravestone with a circular cross-section. Pillars give the appearance of being turned on a lathe and actually derive from the British tradition of Georgian furniture.

Plagium Body-snatching.

Plastination - A way to preserve dissected specimens after death.

Plot - means two or more adjoining graves, crypts, or niches.

Posthumous A- fter death.

Postmortem - After death.

Postmortem Stain - Discoloration from blood color seeping into skin.

Potter's Field - A place for the burial of indigent or anonymous persons. The term comes from a Biblical reference: Matthew 27.7.

Prearranged Funeral: Arrangements that have been completed by an individual prior to their death that communicates their wishes for the funeral.

Prearranged Funeral Trust: A arrangement by which funeral expenses can be pre-paid by an individual.

Pre-need or Pre-planning - Planning all aspects of your funeral (especially financing) in advance. There are some problems with the process, especially in some states.

Preparation Room - A room in a funeral home designed and equipped for preparing the deceased for final disposition,

Preparation Table - An operating table located in the preparation room upon which the body is placed for embalming and dressing.

Procession - The vehicular movement of the funeral from the place where the funeral service was conducted to the cemetery. May also apply to a church funeral where the mourners follow the casket as it is brought into and taken out of the church.

Probate - The court process of proving the validity of a will.

Pulverization - Grinding of bone fragments after cremation, also called processing.

Purgatory - A place where good souls may wait to make up for sins. Also a tending to purge, a place of remorse.

Purge - A discharge from the deceased through the mouth, nose and ears of matter from the stomach and intestine caused by improper or ineffectual embalming, due to putrefaction.

Putrefaction - The decomposition of the body upon death which causes discoloration and the formation of a foul smelling product.

Pyre - A pile of things to burn a corpse on.

Receiving Tomb - A vault where the dead may be held until a final burial place is prepared.

Regicide T- he killing of a king.

Register - A book made available by the funeral director for recording the names of people visiting the funeral home to pay their respects to the deceased. Also has space for entering other data such as name, dates of birth and death of the deceased, name of the officiating clergyman, place of interment, time and date of service, list of floral tributes, etc.

Reinterment: The act of interring human remains that have been disinterred.

Relics - An object kept for religious reasons, especially a body part of personal effect of a saint. Also something preserved from the past, a corpse.

Reliquary - A container for holding relics.

Remains - The deceased.

Reposing Room - A room of the funeral home where a body lies in state from the time it is casketed until the time of the funeral service.

Requiem - A musical composition for the All Saint's Day mass.

Restorative Art - Derma surgery - The process of restoring mutilated and distorted features by employing wax, creams, plaster, etc.

Resuscitate - Bring back to life.

Rigor Mortis - Rigidity of the muscles which occurs at death.

Residue: Cremated remains, which are imbedded in cracks and uneven spaces of the cremation chamber or in the cremated remains container, that cannot be removed through reasonable manual contact with sweeping or scraping equipment. Materials left in the cremation chamber after completion of the cremation or in the cremated remains container that can be reasonably removed should be considered in excess of residue.

Right of survivorship - Occurs when a joint property owner has provided for the passing of all property into the hands of the surviving joint owner. This will forego the need for probate.

Rippling - the undulating or ridged marks left on the back side of a hand-carved gravestone by the chisel, as it was used to thin the stone to its slab-like shape.

Rostrum - A permanent open air masonry stage used for memorial services in cemeteries of the modern period, patterned after the platform for public orators used in ancient Rome.

"Rural" Cemetery - A burial place characterized by spacious landscaped grounds and romantic commemorative monuments established in a rural setting in the period of the young republic and at the dawn of the Victoria era; so called for the movement inspired by the American model, Mount Auburn Cemetery (1831) in the environs of Boston; a cemetery developed in this tradition. The term is used with quotation marks throughout the guidance to distinguish this distinctive landscaped type from other kinds of burying grounds occurring in the countryside.

Rubbing - means of obtaining a copy of the bas-relief carving on a gravestone or similar object. Rubbings are made by placing rice paper over tile surface of tile marker, then rubbing gently oil the paper with a soft pencil, a crayon, or a similar writing material. Rubbings are quite accurate in their copying of a design, but some cemeteries have had to forbid the making of rubbings, because the activity is slowly wearing away the surface

Sacrifice - Offering something to a deity to gain good favor, especially a slaughtered human or animal, the thing given, or the act of doing so. Also something traded for something else.

Salat - Prayers said on a person's death in Muslim religion.

Sarcophagus - A stone coffin or monumental chamber for a casket.

Scattering: The final disposition of cremated remains by lawful dispersion.

Scattering Garden - means an area of the Cemetery or mausoleum for the scattering of cremated remains in a non-recoverable manner in a common area.  Catholic Cemeteries do not have scattering gardens.

Screen Memorial - A vertically-set gravemarker consisting of a tablet with wing elements resting on a continuous base.

Séance A meeting to receive spiritual messages, as from a deceased spirit.

Selection Room - A room which holds coffins and caskets for display purposes to allow the family a choice for the deceased.

Sepulcher - A burial vault or crypt.

Seppuku - See hara-kiri.

Sepulcher - A burial vault, a place to store relics in an altar, to place in such a location.

Sepulture - Burial or a sepulcher.

Service car - Usually a utility vehicle to which tasteful ornamentation may be added in the form of a metal firm name plate, post lamps, etc. It is utilized to transport chairs, church trucks, flower stands, shipping cases, etc.

Sexton - Traditionally, a digger of graves and supervisor of burials in the churchyard; commonly, a cemetery superintendent.

Shell Embalming P- reserving over the outer shell.

Shelter House - A pavilion or roofed structure, frequently open at the sides, containing seats or benches for the convenience of those seeking a place to rest; erected in rustic and classical styles to beautify a cemetery landscape.

Shitai J- apanese term for corpse.

Shomrim - Those who remain with body from casket to burial in Judaism.

Shroud Cloth - used to wrap body when buried. Also to wrap, to shut off, to (find) shelter, a screen, and ropes used to support a mast or smokestack.

Sidepanel - on a gravestone, a decorative strip along one vertical side.

SIDS - Refers to the sudden and unexpected death of an apparently healthy infant under one year of age which remains unexplained after all known and possible causes have been ruled out through autopsy, death scene investigation and review of the medical history.

Sin Eaters T- hose who in ancient times in England, Ireland, Wales and India were given the task of eating ritual foods to help the dead out of purgatory, perhaps to the detriment of their own souls.

Skull Cap - Part of the skull removed to allow access to the brain.

Slab - any grave marker that is essentially a thin, flat piece. Slabs can be of any material but usually are of stone, concrete, or wood.

Slant Marker - A rectangular gravemarker having straight sides and inscribed surface raked at an acute angle.

Slip coffins - Coffins with floors that can come off, leaving the body behind, so that they can be used again.

Slumber Room - A room equipped with, besides the usual furniture, a bed upon which the deceased is placed prior to casketing on the day of the funeral. The body, appropriately dressed, lies in state on the bed.

Soul - Similar to the spirit.

Spirit - What gives life to something, essence.

Spiritual Banquet - A Roman Catholic practice involving specific prayers, such as Masses and Rosaries offered by an individual or a group for a definite purpose.

Stele - An upright stone or commemorative slab, commonly inscribed or embellished on one of the broader vertical surfaces; a gravemarker type revived from classical antiquity.

Suicide - The killing of one's self.

Survivor - The persons outliving the deceased, particularly the immediate family.

Suttee - The act of a woman placing herself on her husband's pyre, or the women who commits such an act. Made illegal by Britain in 1829

Table Marker - A rectangular grave covering consisting of a horizontal stone slab raised on legs, which sometimes are highly elaborate; also "table stone."

Tablet - A rectangular gravemarker set at a right angle to the ground, having inscriptions, raised lettering or carved decoration predominantly on vertical planes, and top surface finished in straight, pedimented, round, oval, or serpentine fashion.

Tachrichim - White linen shroud for Jewish burial.

Taharah - The final bathing of the body in Judaism.

Tangi - to cry; the mourning for the dead

Tangihanga - the ceremony of mourning the dead

Terminal: A fatal condition that causes a patients health to decline with the ultimate result of death.

Testator - A person making a valid will.

Thanatology - The study of social and psychological aspects of death and dying, as practiced by thanatologists.

Thanatomimesis - Pretending to be dead.

Throat Cutter - Term for arterial embalmers from those who use other methods because the neck had to be cut to expose vessels.

Tomb - A burial place for the dead.

Tomb, False - a type of grave marker where a slab of stone or concrete covers the area of a grave and extends above the ground anywhere from a few inches to a couple of feet. A false tomb most frequently is boxy, but it may be rounded or otherwise embellished. It may have an accompanying gravestone, or it may bear an inscription itself. It is not a true tomb, since the burial is underground.

Tomb Recess - A niche or hollow in a wall that shelters a tomb.

Tomb, Table - a stone grave marker similar to a chest tomb but differing in that its top is supported by small columns it the corner only.

Tombstone - See gravestone. Also an American pizza brand (prompting the ad campaign, "what do you want on your tombstone?") Also a city in southwest Arizona.

Toning Compound - A dark color that is mixed with a brighter fundamental color gives a corpse a lifelike appearance.

Trade Embalmer - A licensed embalmer who is not employed by one specific funeral home, but does the embalming for several firms either on a salary or per case basis.

Traditional Service - A religious service with the body present usually preceded by visitation.

Transit Permit - A legal paper issued by the local government authorizing removal of a body to a cemetery for interment. Some cities also require an additional permit if the deceased is to be cremated.

Trisagion - Three prayers said before a funeral in the Eastern Orthodox church.

Trocar - Long-needled instrument inserted in the body along imaginary trocar guides for removing body fluids and replacing with embalming fluid. The hole is closed with a plastic screw called a trocar button.

Trust - Usually a fund, though it may be made up of other property. It is held and managed by one person for the benefit of another (or others).

Tumulus - a mound of earth protecting a tomb chamber; in the ancient world, important tumuli were encircled by drum-like constructions of stone.

Tupapaku - the body of the deceased in New Zealand

Undertaker - see funeral director. Also one who takes on a task.

Undressed - referring to a stone marker that has not had its surface completely smoothed or otherwise finished.

Unveiling - prayer service for consecrating tombstone in Judaism.

Upright Stone - a grave marker that is placed upright, above the surface of the ground

Urupa - cemetery; burial place in New Zealand

Urn - means a container for cremated remains.

Urn Garden - means an outdoor area in the Cemetery used or designated to be used for the underground burial of cremated human remains in an urn.

Vault - A burial chamber, commonly underground.

Vidui - The confession recommended to those dying in Judaism

Vigil - A Roman Catholic religious service held on the eve of the funeral service.

Visitation - A scheduled time, during which a body is present in an open or closed casket, when family and friends pay their respects, usually in private in a special room within the funeral home. Also referred to as a "viewing", "calling hours", "family hour" or "wake."

Wake - A watch kept over the deceased, sometimes lasting the entire night preceding the funeral.

Wedgestone - a style of grave marker, usually of stone but occasionally of concrete. A wedge stone, not surprisingly, is essentially wedge-shaped, so that the bottom surface lies flat on the ground, the back surface runs more or less vertically, and the top surface (with the inscription) slope-, from the top of the stone at its back to ground level at its front.

Will - A legal document stating the intentions of the deceased concerning the dispersal of their belongings, the care of their remains and other relevant matters.

Winding Sheet - A sheet to hold body before funeral, tied at both ends, sometimes exposing head.

Wrongful Death - A lawsuit alleging wrongful death may be brought about if you believe that your family member's death was caused by carelessness and negligence. Any authority that employed the individual who allegedly caused the death may also be liable and a complaint should be filed against them also. Although lawsuits will bring the guilty parties to some form of justice, it will in no way fill the void left by the death. However, monetary compensation may help the family cope with the loss of a primary contributor to the budget and cover funeral and legal costs.