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sarcophagus

noun
/sɑːˈkɒfəɡəs/UK/sɑɹˈkɑfəɡəs/US

Etymology

The noun is borrowed from Latin sarcophagus (“grave; sarcophagus; flesh-eating, carnivorous”), from Ancient Greek σᾰρκοφᾰ́γος (sărkophắgos, “sarcophagus; flesh-eating, carnivorous”) (so named from λῐ́θος σᾰρκοφᾰ́γος (lĭ́thos sărkophắgos, literally “flesh-eating stone”) a type of limestone found at Assos in Troas (now Behramkale, Turkey) thought to consume the flesh of corpses, and thus used to make coffins), from σαρκός (sarkós) (the genitive form of σάρξ (sárx, “flesh; body”), from Proto-Indo-European *twerḱ- (“to carve; to cut off, trim”)) + -φάγος (-phágos, suffix meaning ‘eater (of); eating’) (from ἔφαγον (éphagon, “to devour, eat”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂g- (“to allot, distribute; to divide”)). The plural form sarcophagi is borrowed from Latin sarcophagī. The verb is derived from the noun.

  1. borrowed from sarcophagī
  2. derived from *bʰeh₂g-✻ — “to allot, distribute; to divide”
  3. derived from *twerḱ-✻ — “to carve; to cut off, trim”
  4. derived from σᾰρκοφᾰ́γος — “sarcophagus; flesh-eating, carnivorous”
  5. borrowed from sarcophagus — “grave; sarcophagus; flesh-eating, carnivorous”

Definitions

  1. A stone coffin, often with its exterior inscribed, or decorated with sculpture.

    • One meets vvith many other Figures of Meleager in the ancient Baſſo Relievo's, and on the Sides of the Sarcophagi, or Funeral Monuments.

  2. The cement and steel structure that encases the destroyed nuclear reactor at the…

    The cement and steel structure that encases the destroyed nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine.

  3. A type of wine cooler (“a piece of equipment used to keep wine chilled”) shaped like a…

    A type of wine cooler (“a piece of equipment used to keep wine chilled”) shaped like a sarcophagus (sense 1).

    • A George VI mahogany sarcophagus wine cooler, with nulled mouldings and brass ring handles, the turned stem on leaf carved and moulded legs and brass castors.
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. A kind of limestone used by the Ancient Greeks for coffins, so called because it was…

      A kind of limestone used by the Ancient Greeks for coffins, so called because it was thought to consume the flesh of corpses.

      • His Entrails are like the Sarcophagus, that devours dead Bodies in a ſmall Space, […]

    2. To enclose (a corpse, etc.) in a sarcophagus (noun sense 1).

      • All waiting: the new-coffined dead, / The handful of mere dust that lies / Sarcophagused in stone and lead / Under the weight of centuries: / Knight, cardinal, bishop, abbess mild, / With last week's buried year-old child.
      • Even the sight of a very great king indeed, sarcophagused under electric light in a hall full of most fortifying pictures, does not hold him [a visitor to the Valley of the Kings, Egypt] too long.

The neighborhood

Derived

sarcophagal, sarcophagise, sarcophagize, sarcophaguslike

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for sarcophagus. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA