Shoah

1 definition found

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

  Holocaust \Hol"o*caust\, n. [L. holocaustum, Gr. ?, neut. of ?,
     ?, burnt whole; "o'los whole + kaysto`s burnt, fr. kai`ein to
     burn (cf. {Caustic}): cf. F. holocauste.]
     1. A burnt sacrifice; an offering, the whole of which was
        consumed by fire, among the Jews and some pagan nations.
        --Milton.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Sacrifice or loss of many lives, as by the burning of a
        theater or a ship.
  
     Note: [An extended use not authorized by careful writers.]
           [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Specifically: The mass killing of millions of Jews by the
        Nazis during the period from 1933 to 1945 in Germany and
        German-occupied lands; usually referred to as {The
        Holocaust}. In Hebrew, the same event is referred to by
        the word {Shoah}.
        [PJC]