Meanings of professional mourners in English

All boys are splendid professional mourners anyway, and John was by no means an exception to the rule.

Teeming crowds of professional mourners and curious onlookers would not pass by to lay flowers upon his bier.

They were filled with professional mourners, weeping and beating on their breasts, and wailing in high, ghostly moans.

They dispensed with professional mourners.

They bought jade cremation boxes, elaborate floral wreaths, catered services, professional mourners -testaments to individual wealth among widespread poverty.

This crying is done almost wholly by women, who gather in large numbers on such occasions, and among them a few who are professional mourners.

The professional mourners then arrive, and night or day is made hideous with their cries, while the "washers of the dead" proceed with their work.