sacrifice
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsækɹɪfaɪs/
ipa: /-faɪz/
ipa: /ˈsækɹəˌfaɪs/
rhymes: -aɪs
Forms: form: sacrifices
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *seh₂k-
Proto-Italic *sakros
Latin sacer
Latin sacrum
Proto-Italic *fakjō
Latin facio
Proto-Indo-European *-yós
Old Latin -ios
Latin -ius
Latin -ium
Latin sacrificiumlbor.
Old French sacrifisebor.
Middle English sacrifice
English sacrifice
From Middle English sacrifice (“act of offering a life or object to a deity; the life or object so offered; (Christianity) act of consecrating the elements in the mass”), from Anglo-Norman sacrefiz, and Old French sacrifice, sacrifise (modern French sacrifice), from Latin sacrificium (“something offered to a deity, sacrifice”), from sacrum (“sacrifice, sacrificial rite”) + faciō (“to do, to make”) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). The noun sacrum is the nominalized neuter of the adjective sacer (“devoted to a deity for sacrifice; holy, sacred”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂k- (“ceremony, ritual; to make sacred”), and the verb faciō is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to do; to place, put”). Related Latin formations include sacrificus (“of or pertaining to sacrifice, sacrificial”) and sacrificō (“to make a sacrifice”).
Cognates
* Italian sagrifizio
* Occitan sacrifici
* Portuguese sacrificio
* Spanish sacrificio
Senses: examples: text: They firſt vvaſh the dead body, paint him, clothe him, and ſo conueigh him to his Dormitorie, vvhich is ſpacious and neat, vvherein they bury his Armolets, Bracelets, Shackles and ſuch Treaſure, concluding their Ceremonies vvith Mimmicke geſtures and eiaculations: vvhich, vvith the Sacrifice of a Goat, vpon his Graue, puts a period to their Burials.
ref: 1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “[Angola]”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC, pages 9–10:
text: [T]he Beaſts they offered in ſacrifice, and the Gifts they offered, and their actions in VVorſhipping, vvere full of ſubmiſſion, and commemorative of benefits received, vvas according to reaſon, as proceeding from an intention to honour him [God].
ref: 1651, Thomas Hobbes, “Of the Kingdome of God by Nature”, in Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill, London: […] [William Wilson] for Andrew Crooke, […], →OCLC, 2nd part (Of Common-wealth), page 192:
text: […] Moloch, horrid King beſmear'd with blood / Of human ſacrifice, and parents tears, / Though for the noyſe of Drums and Timbrels loud / Their childrens cries unheard, that paſt through fire / To his grim Idol.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature [B3], recto, lines 392–396:
text: This day the Philiſtines a popular Feaſt / Here celebrate in Gaza; and proclaim / Great Pomp, and Sacrifice, and Praiſes loud / To Dagon, as their God vvho hath deliver'd / Thee Samſon bound and blind into thir hands, […]
ref: 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 32, lines 435–439:
topics: lifestyle
religion
glosses: Originally, the killing (and often burning) of a human being or an animal as an offering to a deity; later, also the offering of an object to a deity.
examples: text: O th'inchaunting vvords of that baſe ſlaue, / Made him to thinke Epeus pine-tree Horſe [i.e., the Trojan Horse] / A ſacrifize t'appeaſe Mineruas vvrath: […]
ref: 1594, Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Nash[e], The Tragedie of Dido Queene of Carthage: […], London: […] Widdowe Orwin, for Thomas Woodcocke, […], →OCLC, Act II, signature [B4], verso:
text: Make of your Prayers one ſvveet Sacrifice, / And lift my Soule to Heauen.
ref: 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 212, column 2:
text: Does the mute Sacrifice upbraid the Prieſt? / He knovvs him not his Executioner.
ref: 1677 (first performance), John Dryden, All for Love: Or, The World Well Lost. A Tragedy, […], [London]: […] Tho[mas] Newcomb, for Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC, Act I, page 6:
topics: lifestyle
religion
glosses: A human being or an animal, or a physical object or immaterial thing (see sense 1.3), offered to a deity.
examples: text: Let vs therfore by him [Jesus] offre allwayes vnto God the ſacrifice of prayſe: that is to ſaye, the frute of thoſe lippes which confeſſe his name.
ref: 1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Hebrues xiij:[15], folio ciiij, recto, column 2:
text: [W]e thy humble ſeruauntes […] entierely deſiryng thy fatherly goodnes, mercifully to accepte this our Sacrifice of praiſe and thankes geuing: […]
ref: 1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, “The Supper of the Lorde, and the Holy Communion, Commonly Called the Masse”, in The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], →OCLC, folio cxxviii, verso:
text: And they ſhall come […] bringing ſacrifices of praiſe vnto the houſe of the Lord.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 17:26, column 2:
topics: lifestyle
religion
glosses: The offering of devotion, penitence, prayer, thanksgiving, etc., to a deity.
topics: Christianity
lifestyle
religion
glosses: Jesus Christ's voluntary offering of himself to God the Father to be crucified as atonement for the sins of humankind.
examples: text: The pretensions of the holy see, the authority of tradition, purgatory, transubstantiation, the sacrifice of the mass, […] were copiously discussed.
ref: 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter VI, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume II, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, pages 109–110:
topics: Christianity
lifestyle
religion
glosses: The rite of Holy Communion or the Mass, regarded as (Protestantism) an offering of thanksgiving to God for Christ's crucifixion, or (Roman Catholicism) a perpetual re-enactment of Christ's sacrificial offering.
examples: text: the sacrifice of one’s spare time in order to volunteer
text: As rich ſhall Romeo by his Lady [Juliet] lie, / Poore Sacrifices to our Enmitie.
ref: c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Juliet. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, published 1597, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], signature [K4], recto:
text: The benefit vvhich a Soveraign beſtovveth on a Subject, […] are rather Sacrifices, vvhich the Soveraign (conſidered in his naturall perſon, and not in the perſon of the Common-vvealth) makes, for the appeaſing the diſcontent of him he thinks more potent than himſelfe; and encourage not to obedience, but on the contrary, to the continuance, and increaſing of further extortion.
ref: 1651, Thomas Hobbes, “Of Punishments, and Rewards”, in Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill, London: […] [William Wilson] for Andrew Crooke, […], →OCLC, 2nd part (Of Common-wealth), page 166:
text: Ambition this ſhall tempt to riſe, / Then vvhirl the vvretch from high, / To bitter Scorn a ſacrifice, / And grinning Infamy.
ref: 1753, T[homas] Gray, “Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College”, in Designs by Mr. R[ichard] Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 12:
text: [Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of] Clarendon saw that he was not likely to gain anything by the sacrifice of his principles, and determined to take them back again.
ref: 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter X, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume II, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 647:
text: And it's no sacrifice / Just a simple word / It's two hearts living / In two separate worlds / But it's no sacrifice / No sacrifice / It's no sacrifice at all
ref: 1989 August 29, Elton John, Bernie Taupin, “Sacrifice”, in Sleeping with the Past, performed by Elton John, London: The Rocket Record Company, →OCLC:
glosses: The destruction or surrender of anything for the sake of something else regarded as more urgent or valuable; also, the thing destroyed or surrendered for this purpose.
topics: ball-games
baseball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Ellipsis of sacrifice bunt or sacrifice hit (“a play in which the batter intentionally hits the ball softly with a hands-spread batting stance at the cost of an out to advance one or more runners”).
topics: bridge
games
synonyms: save
glosses: In full sacrifice bid: a bid of a contract which is unlikely to be fulfilled, that a player makes in the hope that they will incur fewer penalty points than the points likely to be gained by opponents in making their contract.
examples: text: The Old Year was already looked upon as dead; and its effects were selling cheap like some drowned mariner's aboardship. Its patterns were Last Year's and going at a sacrifice, before its breath was gone. Its treasures were mere dirt, beside the riches of its unborn successor!
ref: 1844 (date written), Charles Dickens, “The Second Quarter”, in The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year out and a New Year in, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1845, →OCLC, pages 52–53:
text: [H]e bought a green shawl for Mrs. Bolton, and a yellow one for Fanny: the most brilliant "sacrifices" of a Regent-street haberdasher's window.
ref: 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Conversations”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 216:
topics: business
glosses: A monetary loss incurred by selling something at less than its value; also, the thing thus sold.
topics: board-games
chess
games
glosses: An act of intentionally allowing one's piece to be captured by the opponent in order to improve one's position in the game.
Derived terms: human sacrifice
nonsacrifice
sac
sacrifice area
sacrifice bunt
sacrifice fly
sacrifice hit
sacrifice zone
salary sacrifice
self-sacrifice
supreme sacrifice
ultimate sacrifice