exhume

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to remove a buried body or other object from the ground, especially for examination or reburial

   Investigators obtained permission to exhume the remains for forensic testing.

2. 2
   verb

   figurative: to uncover or revive something long forgotten or neglected

   The documentary helped exhume a scandal that officials had tried to bury.

From Medieval Latin exhumare, formed from Latin ex-, 'out of,' + humus, 'ground or earth.' Its literal opposite is inhume, 'to bury'; the figurative sense treats forgotten information as something dug up.

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