Definition of "lich-gate" [lich-gate]

• A churchyard gate with a porch or shed forming a chapel either combined with it or contiguous to it, in which in England and on the continent it was formerly customary, and is still usual in some places, for a bier to stand during the reading of the introductory part of the service, before it is borne inside; a corpsegate. It is very commonly nothing more than a simple shed under which is the gate. Also spelled, archaically, lychgate. (noun)

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "Its lich-gate held an image before which Mrs. Hilliard melted in a welter of devotion."
• "At the entrance to the graveyard is the lich-gate and mortuary, where many wrecked seamen were taken for burial."
• "She clinched her lips tightly as she came in sight of the tall poplars which stood beyond the spire of the church, and rose to an equal height with it, and at the lich-gate of the church she paused a little, feigning to take interest in one or two tombstones which recorded the death of people she had known."