ashes

¹ British  

/ ˈæʃɪz /

plural noun

1. ruins or remains, as after destruction or burning

   the city was left in ashes

2. the remains of a human body after cremation

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Ashes ² British  

/ ˈæʃɪz /

plural noun

1. a cremated cricket stump in a pottery urn now preserved at Lord's. Victory or defeat in test matches between England and Australia is referred to as winning, losing, or retaining the Ashes

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Etymology

Origin of Ashes

from the mock obituary of English cricket in The Times in 1882 after a great Australian victory at the Oval, in which it was said that the body would be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia

Example Sentences

Humberside Police removed 35 bodies and the ashes of 167 people from Legacy's parlour in Hessle Road following a "concern for care of the deceased" in March 2024.

From BBC • Apr. 2, 2026

Moore insists he had never seen Bush mixing up ashes.

From BBC • Apr. 2, 2026

Another said: "How will those enforcing these rules know if the apartments are being used just to store ashes? And how will they deal with those cases?"

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026

Martínez had the man’s body cremated, and stored the ashes in a wooden niche in the shelter’s small chapel.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 21, 2026

She couldn’t make soap with ashes and fat as Aunt Chipo had done in the village—every morsel of fat went down her throat—but she made a reasonable substitute from the boiled roots of ruredzo plants.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer