See Also: sarcophagus(dictionary)
sarcophagus(dictionary)

sarcophagus (iou)



sarcophagus noun & verb. LME.
[Latin from Greek sarkophagos (adjective & noun), formed as SARCO- + -phagos eating.]
A. noun. Pl. -gi .
A stone coffin, esp. one adorned with sculpture, an inscription, etc. LME.
fig.: New Scientist The rogue reactor still..discharging its radioactivity within its dense sarcophagus of concrete and steel.
Greek Antiquities. A stone fabled to be able to consume the flesh of dead bodies deposited in it, and used for coffins. Now rare. E17.
A flesh-eater; a cannibal. rare. E17-M19
b. verb trans. Deposit or enclose in a sarcophagus. rare. M19.
sarcophagal adjective (rare) (a) flesh-eating; (b) represented on sarcophagi: E17.
sarcophage noun = SARCOPHAGUS E17-M19.
sarcophagous adjective (rare) (a) flesh-eating, carnivorous; (b) resembling a sarcophagus: M18.
sarcophagy noun (rare) [Greek sarkophagia] the practice of eating flesh M17.