Char"nel (?), a. [F. charnel carnal, fleshly, fr. L. carnalis. See Carnal.] Containing the bodies of the dead. "Charnel vaults." Milton.

Charnel house, a tomb, vault, cemetery, or other place where the bones of the dead are deposited; originally, a place for the bones thrown up when digging new graves in old burial grounds.

Char"nel, n. A charnel house; a grave; a cemetery.

In their proud charnel of Thermopylæ.
Byron.