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Sarcophagus - Dictionary Definition and Overview |
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Sarcophagus : (noun)
1: a stone coffin (usually bearing sculpture or inscriptions)
Based on WordNet 2.0
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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.
Based on WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003)
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