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dead and putrefying flesh.
rottenness; anything vile.
feeding on carrion.
Contemporary Examples

carrion resigned as Bronx borough president to join the Obama administration in Washington.
The NYC Mayor’s Race is Tomorrow, Here’s What to Look Out For Ben Jacobs November 3, 2013

Historical Examples

It is to the Castle of carrion that we are going, as Bellido is now absent.
The Cid Campeador Antonio de Trueba

Already the carrion birds had gathered in incredible numbers.
The Leopard Woman Stewart Edward White

A big coughing mass, reeking of carrion, bounded past him up the hill, and he followed discreetly.
The Day’s Work, Volume 1 Rudyard Kipling

There was the scent of carrion in the air now; I saw it in his eyes.
The Underdog F. Hopkinson Smith

Its presence was manifested by the stench from far off from the carrion of the dead.
An Artilleryman’s Diary Jenkin Lloyd Jones

But you are learning, cur; you are learning by the pain of your fat carcase; is it not so, carrion?
Bardelys the Magnificent Rafael Sabatini

The Vultures, and other carrion birds, share with the crustac the essential office of health preservers.
The Sea Jules Michelet

Offal and carrion were strewn all about the place; it swarmed with flies.
When the West Was Young Frederick R. Bechdolt

The – 235 – large birds commonly seen are the rook, carrion crow, daw, and wood-pigeon.
Birds in London W. H. Hudson

noun
dead and rotting flesh
(modifier) eating carrion: carrion beetles
something rotten or repulsive
n.

early 13c., carione, from Anglo-French carogne (Old North French caroigne; Old French charogne, 12c., “carrion, corpse,” Modern French charogne), from Vulgar Latin *caronia “carcass” (source of Italian carogna, Spanish carroña “carrion”), from Latin caro “meat” (see carnage).