Sarcophagus definition

Sarcophagus





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3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Sarcophagus \Sar*coph"a*gus\, n.; pl. L. {Sarcophagi}, E.
     {Sarcophaguses}. [L., fr. Gr. sarkofa`gos, properly, eating
     flesh; sa`rx, sa`rkos, flesh + fagei^n to eat. Cf.
     {Sarcasm}.]
     1. A species of limestone used among the Greeks for making
        coffins, which was so called because it consumed within a


        few weeks the flesh of bodies deposited in it. It is
        otherwise called {lapis Assius}, or {Assian stone}, and is
        said to have been found at Assos, a city of Lycia.
        --Holland.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A coffin or chest-shaped tomb of the kind of stone
        described above; hence, any stone coffin.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. A stone shaped like a sarcophagus and placed by a grave as
        a memorial.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  sarcophagus
       n : a stone coffin (usually bearing sculpture or inscriptions)
       [also: {sarcophagi} (pl)]

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  SARCOPHAGUS, n.  Among the Greeks a coffin which being made of a
  certain kind of carnivorous stone, had the peculiar property of
  devouring the body placed in it.  The sarcophagus known to modern
  obsequiographers is commonly a product of the carpenter's art.
  
  

















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