Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Charnel \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.

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

         In their proud charnel of Thermopyl[ae]. --Byron.

Source : WordNet®

charnel
     adj : gruesomely indicative of death or the dead; "a charnel smell
           came from the chest filled with dead men's bones";
           "ghastly shrieks"; "the sepulchral darkness of the
           catacombs" [syn: {ghastly}, {sepulchral}]

charnel
     n : a vault or building where corpses or bones are deposited
         [syn: {charnel house}]