1 [U] the grey or black powder that is left after sth, especially tobacco, wood or coal, has burnt:
cigarette ash * black volcanic ash * She flicked ash out of the window carelessly.
2 (ashes) [pl.] what is left after sth has been destroyed by burning:
The town was reduced to ashes in the fighting. * the glowing ashes of the campfire * (figurative) The party had risen, like a phoenix, from the ashes of electoral disaster. * She had seen all her dreams turn to ashes.
3 (ashes) [pl.] the powder that is left after a dead person's body has been CREMATED (= burned):
She wanted her ashes to be scattered at sea.
4 [C,U] (also ash tree) a forest tree with grey bark
seealsoMOUNTAINASH
5 [U] the hard pale wood of the ash tree
IDIOMS see SACKCLOTH
