Pallbearer - Definition and Overview

A pallbearer is a person who helps carry the casket of a deceased person from a religious service or viewing to their final resting place, or to and from the hearse which does so.

A pall is the heavy cloth that is draped over a coffin; by metonymy the term pallbearer is used to signify someone who bears the coffin which the pall covers.

Some traditions distinguish between these two roles, with pallbearer being an honorary position, while casketbearers do the actual heavy lifting and carrying.

Pallbearers were usually associated in an intimate manner (such as brother, uncle, father, or husband - pallbearers are not always male, but male pallbearers are the most common) with the deceased before their death, though this is not always the case. Pallbearers are mentioned in literature and music:

In Saint James' Infirmary

In the Alfred Hitchcock movie Downhill

Example Usage of Pallbearer