mummie

Noun

mummy (countable and uncountable, plural mummies)

1. (countable) An embalmed human or non-human animal corpse wrapped in linen bandages for burial, especially as practised by the ancient Egyptians and some Native American tribes.
   • […] Mr. Pearson proceeds to give a particular description of the very perfect mummy of an Ibis, which forms the chief subject of the present paper.1832, Royal Society (Great Britain), Abstracts of The Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, From 1800 to 1830 inclusive, Volume 1: 1800-1814, page 201
2. (broadly, countable) A reanimated embalmed human corpse, as a stock character in horror films.
   • For many, mummies fascinate more than repel. Our horrific connotations lie not so much with the mummy itself, but in associated fears. The mummy serves, of course, as a general reminder of our own mortality and our fear of death, but this alone is not enough to make it a monster.2007, S. T. Joshi, Icons of Horror and the Supernatural: An Encyclopedia of Our Worst Nightmares, volume 1, page 376
3. (broadly, countable) Any naturally preserved human or non-human animal body.
   • 'Mummy,' that is pounded ancient Egyptian, is, I believe, a pigment much used by artists, and especially by those of them who direct their talents to the reproduction of the works of the old masters.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   mummy brown

4. (archaic, broadly) A brown pigment originally prepared from the ground-up remains of Egyptian animal or human mummies mixed with bitumen, etc.

   Synonyms:

   mummy brown

5. (archaic, uncountable) A pulp.
   • Imagine twenty thouſand of them breaking into the midſt of an European Army, confounding the Ranks, overturning the Carriages, battering the Warriors Faces into Mummy, by terrible Yerks from their hinder Hoofs.1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author’s Veracity. His Design in Publishing this Work. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London...
6. (historical, uncountable) A substance used in medicine, prepared from mummified flesh.
   • Yet another scatological medicament was obtained from mummy, the material derived from a dried or embalmed human corpse, the most valuable being that imported from Mizraim (ancient Egypt).1978, Benjamin Walker, Encyclopedia of Metaphysical Medicine, Routledge, page 253

See all 10 meanings of mummy