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sarcophagus |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: 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. 2. A coffin or chest-shaped tomb of the kind of stone described above; hence any stone coffin. 3. A stone shaped like a sarcophagus and placed by a grave as a memorial. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: sarcophagus n : a stone coffin (usually bearing sculpture or inscriptions) 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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