Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The potter's field, said to have lain south of Jerusalem, purchased with the bribe which Judas took for betraying his master, and therefore called the field of blood.
  • noun figuratively A field of bloodshed.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek Ἀκελδαμάχ (Hakeldamakh), from Aramaic חקל ("field") + דמא ("blood")

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Examples

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  • A field of bloodshed.

    May 11, 2008

  • Originally akel-dama, field of blood, in Aramaic. In the Bible, Judas bought a field with the money he received from betraying Jesus, then, overcome with guilt, hanged himself above it, after which his body fell and burst open, and this name was given to it. Now chiefly poetical.

    August 21, 2008