ˈkarēən also -er- noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English carion, caroine, from Anglo-French caroine, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin caronia, irregular from Latin carn-, caro flesh — more at carnal
1. obsolete : a dead body : carcass , corpse
croaking like so many ravens about a carrion — Charles Johnstone
2. : the dead and putrefying flesh of an animal : flesh that is unfit for food
we killed a tiger and a wolf; but God be thanked, we were not so reduced as to eat carrion — Daniel Defoe
3.
a. : a scavenging animal
enemy dead were left to rot or be eaten by carrion
b. : a worthless or noxious animal : vermin
4. : something that is corrupt, vile, or rotten
Roman fashionable society hated Caesar, and any carrion was welcome to them which would taint his reputation — J.A.Froude