Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An underground cemetery consisting of chambers or tunnels with recesses for graves.
- noun An underground, often labyrinthine passageway.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Originally, the name of a locality near Rome, the “Hollows,” in which the church of St. Sebastian, with extensive burial-vaults, was built; but afterward applied to the vaults themselves, and to similar underground burial-places.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A cave, grotto, or subterraneous place of large extent used for the burial of the dead; -- commonly in the plural.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An
underground system oftunnels andchambers withrecesses forgraves , used (informer times ) as acemetery ; a subterranean tunnel system used for burying the dead, as in Paris or ancient Rome.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an underground tunnel with recesses where bodies were buried (as in ancient Rome)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The term catacomb was applied to these subterranean cemeteries at a much later period.
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Catacumbas, whence the term catacomb, a word seemingly of uncertain origin (Northcote and Brownlow, I, 262-63).
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 3: Brownson-Clairvaux 1840-1916 1913
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In the northeast corner of the tomb was a small votive vessel filled with ocher, next to it more ocher, a stone pestle, and three objects made from the metacarpals of animals; in the northwest corner archaeologists found a bronze knife and a long bronze awl broken in half; in the southwest corner were two vessels covered with stone lids; and in the southeast corner, archaeologists were surprised to find a censer of a type commonly found in later so-called catacomb burials that had been placed upside down.
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In some cases this accumulation of earth and sand has protected and hidden that portion of the catacomb which is vertically underneath and thus rescued many precious memorials from the ill-considered attentions, or outrages, of earlier explorers.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 9: Laprade-Mass Liturgy 1840-1916 1913
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At another church is a kind of catacomb for the Earls of Kent: there are ten sumptuous monuments.
The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford — Volume 4 Horace Walpole 1757
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Collins is also unconvinced by Hawass's explanation of what he calls the "catacomb".
Latest Articles Response Source 2009
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Although Dr Hawass suggests there is no mystery surrounding the "catacomb", Collins suspects that the caves extend beneath the Second Pyramid, where ancient tradition puts the legendary tomb of Tomb of Hermes, Egypt's legendary founder.
Latest Articles Response Source 2009
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Vaster, more ambitious schemes were proposed, including a giant pyramidal catacomb atop Primrose Hill to house five million souls (the upper levels financed by the sale of the lower in an, er, pyramid-selling scheme), to which the seven were the sane and suburban alternative.
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Vaster, more ambitious schemes were proposed, including a giant pyramidal catacomb atop Primrose Hill to house five million souls (the upper levels financed by the sale of the lower in an, er, pyramid-selling scheme), to which the seven were the sane and suburban alternative.
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It seemed like we were in the cellars or a catacomb of some sort.
My Fair Succubi Jill Myles 2011
sonofgroucho commented on the word catacomb
Even better catacombs under Paris:
(I've seen the Roman ones too).
December 2, 2007
oroboros commented on the word catacomb
caTacOMB
April 24, 2008
catkisses commented on the word catacomb
Best catacomb is the Capuchin Catacombs
August 23, 2008