Word: holocaust Part of Speech: noun Etymology: The noun is derived from Middle English holocaust (“burnt offering”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman holocauste, Old French holocauste, olocauste (modern French holocaust), from Late Latin holocaustum, from Ancient Greek ὁλόκαυστον (holókauston), the neuter form of ὁλόκαυστος (holókaustos, “wholly burnt”), from ὅλος (hólos, “entire, whole”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- (“whole”)) + καυστός (kaustós, “burnt”) (from καίω (kaíō, “to burn, burn up”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂w-). By surface analysis, holo- + -caust. The verb is derived from the noun. As regards verb sense 3 (“to subject (a group of people) to a holocaust”), compare the use of genocide as a verb. Pronunciation: /ˈhɒl.ə(ʊ)ˌkɔːst/, /ˈhɑl.əˌkɔst/, /ˈhoʊ.lə-/, /ˈhɑl.əˌkɑst/ 1. An offering or sacrifice to a deity that is completely burned to ashes. Example: And the ſcribe ſayde vnto hym: well maſter⸝ thou haſt ſayde the trugthe⸝ thatt there ys one God⸝ and that there is none but he. And to love hym with all the herte⸝ and with all the mynde⸝ and with all the ſoule⸝ ãd with all the ſtrẽgthe. And to love a mans nehbour as hym ſilfe⸝ ys a greater thynge then all holocauſtꝭ [holocaustes] and ſacrifiſes. Example: […] Iſaac carried on his back the wood for the ſacrifice; which being an holocauſt or burnt offering to be conſumed unto aſhes, we cannot well conceive the wood a burthen for a boy; but ſuch a one unto Iſaac, as that which it typified was unto Chriſt, that is the wood or croſſe whereon he ſuffered; […] 2. A complete or large offering or sacrifice. Labels: also, broadly, figuratively Example: Inſnar'd ſhe was in Shechems Treachery, / And, ſilly Mayden, ſuddenly became / An Holocauſt to Luſts unhappy Flame. Example: Oh! and with what a noble freeness on the contrary will not that good soldier, the worthy Spaniard present himself, who, wreathed with laurels, shall run after triumph to the altar of his august mother (his country), and offer up to her in holocaust, the arms and the banners of the vanquished foe; or else testify his bravery by his blood, and body all over glorious sears. 3. Complete destruction by fire; also, the thing so destroyed. Labels: broadly Example: So vertue giv'n for loſt, / Depreſt, and overthrown, as ſeem'd, / Like that ſelf-begott'n bird [the phoenix] / In the Arabian woods emboſt, / That no ſecond knows nor third, / And lay e're while a Holocauſt, / From out her aſhie womb now teem'd, / Revives, reflouriſhes, then vigorous moſt / When moſt unactive deem'd, / And though her body die, her fame ſurvives, / A ſecular bird ages of lives. Example: A horrible holocaust occurred near Hollow Rock, in Benton County, about 7 o'clock last night. The residence of William F. Flowers was consumed by fire. 4. Extensive destruction of a group of animals or (especially) people; a large-scale massacre or slaughter. Labels: broadly, figuratively Example: a nuclear holocaust Example: Three hundred and twelve lives have been sacrificed in seven holocausts, which it would not be accurate to denominate "accidents," in the Lancashire coal fields, since November, 1868. […] [P]ractices are permitted to prevail in one coal-field which cannot be sanctioned by science, and are not be justified except in one sense, that the comfort of the whole people in the distribution of fuel, and the distribution of wages through manufactures, condone the calamity of the holocaust of three hundred and twelve lives. We refuse to believe that the British people will accept any such condonation for the slaughter of three hundred and odd of their fellow-countrymen. 5. Alternative letter-case form of Holocaust (“the systematic mass murder (democide or genocide) of Jews (and, more broadly, of disabled people, homosexuals, Romanis, Slavs, and others) perpetrated by Nazi Germany shortly before and during World War II”); hence, the state-sponsored mass murder of a particular group of people in society. Labels: alt-of, broadly, figuratively