What is "necrophaga"

Bury \Bur"y\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Buried; p. pr. & vb. n. Burying.] [OE. burien, birien, berien, AS. byrgan; akin to beorgan to protect, OHG. bergan, G. bergen, Icel. bjarga, Sw. berga, Dan. bierge, Goth. ba['i]rgan. [root]95. Cf. Burrow.]

1. To cover out of sight, either by heaping something over, or by placing within something, as earth, etc.; to conceal by covering; to hide; as, to bury coals in ashes; to bury the face in the hands.

   And all their confidence Under the weight of mountains buried deep.
   --Milton.

2. Specifically: To cover out of sight, as the body of a deceased person, in a grave, a tomb, or the ocean; to deposit (a corpse) in its resting place, with funeral ceremonies; to inter; to inhume.

   Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
   --Matt. viii. 21.

   I'll bury thee in a triumphant grave.
   --Shak.

3. To hide in oblivion; to put away finally; to abandon; as, to bury strife.

   Give me a bowl of wine In this I bury all unkindness, Cassius.
   --Shak.

   Burying beetle (Zo["o]l.), the general name of many species of beetles, of the tribe Necrophaga; the sexton beetle; -- so called from their habit of burying small dead animals by digging away the earth beneath them. The larv[ae] feed upon decaying flesh, and are useful scavengers.

   To bury the hatchet, to lay aside the instruments of war, and make peace; -- a phrase used in allusion to the custom observed by the North American Indians, of burying a tomahawk when they conclude a peace.

   Syn: To intomb; inter; inhume; inurn; hide; cover; conceal; overwhelm; repress.