The Collaborative International Dictionary
Ashes \Ash"es\, n. pl. [OE. asche, aske, AS. asce, [ae]sce, axe; akin to OHG. asca, G. asche, D. asch, Icel. & Sw. aska, Dan. aske, Goth. azgo.]
The earthy or mineral particles of combustible substances remaining after combustion, as of wood or coal.
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Specifically: The remains of the human body when burnt, or when ``returned to dust'' by natural decay.
Their martyred blood and ashes sow.
--Milton.The coffins were broken open. The ashes were scattered to the winds.
--Macaulay. -
The color of ashes; deathlike paleness.
The lip of ashes, and the cheek of flame.
--Byron.In dust and ashes, In sackcloth and ashes, with humble expression of grief or repentance; -- from the method of mourning in Eastern lands.
Volcanic ashes, or Volcanic ash, the loose, earthy matter, or small fragments of stone or lava, ejected by volcanoes.
Usage examples of "in sackcloth and ashes".
The boundary was trod by the bishop and his clergy, barefoot, in sackcloth and ashes.
The prayers that did begin then, and the lamentations in sackcloth and ashes, and the holy processions, none of these have ceased nor night nor day.
While he groaned and prayed in sackcloth and ashes, his brother, the eunuch John, smiled at his remorse, and enjoyed the harvest of a crime of which himself was the secret and most guilty author.