sacrifice

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The act of offering something to a deity in propitiation or homage, especially the ritual slaughter of an animal or a person.
• noun A victim offered in this way.
• noun The act of giving up something highly valued for the sake of something else considered to have a greater value or claim.
• noun Something given up in this way.
• noun Relinquishment of something at less than its presumed value.
• noun Something so relinquished.
• noun A loss so sustained.
• noun Baseball A sacrifice bunt or sacrifice fly.
• intransitive verb To offer as a sacrifice to a deity.
• intransitive verb To give up (one thing) for another thing considered to be of greater value.
• intransitive verb To sell or give away at a loss.
• intransitive verb To kill (an animal) for purposes of scientific research or experimentation.
• intransitive verb To offer a sacrifice.
• intransitive verb To make a sacrifice.
• intransitive verb Baseball To make a sacrifice bunt or sacrifice fly.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The offering of anything to a deity; a consecratory rite.
• noun That which is sacrificed; specifically, that which is consecrated and offered to a deity as an expression of thanksgiving, consecration, penitence, or reconciliation. See offering.
• noun The destruction, surrender, or giving up of some prized or desirable thing in behalf of a higher object, or to a claim considered more pressing; the loss incurred by devotion to some other person or interest; also, the thing so devoted or given up.
• noun Surrender or loss of profit.
• In base-ball, to make a fair hit, so as to advance a base-runner, while giving the opportunity to put out the batter.
• To make an offering or sacrifice of; present as an expression of thanksgiving, consecration, penitence, or reconciliation.
• To surrender, give up, or suffer to be lost or destroyed for the sake of something else.
• To dispose of regardless of gain or advantage.
• Synonyms Sacrifice, Immolate. By the original meaning, sacrifice might apply to offerings of any sort, but immolate only to sacrifices of life: this distinction still continues, except that, as most sacrifices have been the offering of life, sacrifice has come to mean that presumably. It has taken on several figurative meanings, while immolate has come to seem a strong word, especially appropriate to the offering of a large number of lives or of a valuable life. Immolation is naturally for propitiation, while sacrifice may be for that or only for worship.
• To offer up a sacrifice; make offerings to a deity, especially by the slaughter and burning of victims, or of some part of them, on an altar.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• intransitive verb To make offerings to God, or to a deity, of things consumed on the altar; to offer sacrifice.
• transitive verb To make an offering of; to consecrate or present to a divinity by way of expiation or propitiation, or as a token acknowledgment or thanksgiving; to immolate on the altar of God, in order to atone for sin, to procure favor, or to express thankfulness.
• transitive verb Hence, to destroy, surrender, or suffer to be lost, for the sake of obtaining something; to give up in favor of a higher or more imperative object or duty; to devote, with loss or suffering.
• transitive verb To destroy; to kill.
• transitive verb Tradesmen's Cant To sell at a price less than the cost or the actual value.
• noun The offering of anything to God, or to a god; consecratory rite.
• noun Anything consecrated and offered to God, or to a divinity; an immolated victim, or an offering of any kind, laid upon an altar, or otherwise presented in the way of religious thanksgiving, atonement, or conciliation.
• noun Destruction or surrender of anything for the sake of something else; devotion of some desirable object in behalf of a higher object, or to a claim deemed more pressing; hence, also, the thing so devoted or given up.
• noun Tradesmen's Cant A sale at a price less than the cost or the actual value.
• noun See Burnt offering, under Burnt.
• noun (Baseball) in batting, a hit of such a kind that the batter loses his chance of tallying, but enables one or more who are on bases to get home or gain a base.

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

• verb transitive To offer (something) as a gift to a deity.
• verb transitive To give away (something valuable) to get at least a possibility to gain something else of value (such as self-respect, trust, love, freedom, prosperity), or to avoid an even greater loss.
• verb transitive To trade (a value of higher worth) for one of lesser worth in order to gain something else valued more such as an ally or business relationship or to avoid an even greater loss; to sell without profit to gain something other than money.
• verb transitive (chess) To intentionally give up (a piece) in order to improve one’s position on the board.
• verb transitive (baseball) To advance (a runner on base) by batting the ball so it can be caught or fielded, placing the batter out, but with insufficient time to put the runner out.
• noun Something sacrificed.
• noun baseball A play in which the batter is intentionally out in order that runners can advance around the bases.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb endure the loss of
• verb make a sacrifice of; in religious rituals
• verb kill or destroy
• noun personnel that are sacrificed (e.g., surrendered or lost in order to gain an objective)