[syn: sacrifice, give]
2. kill or destroy;
- Example: "The animals were sacrificed after the experiment"
- Example: "The general had to sacrifice several soldiers to save the regiment"
3. sell at a loss;
4. make a sacrifice of; in religious rituals;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Sacrifice \Sac"ri*fice\ (?; 277), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
Sacrificed; p. pr. & vb. n. Sacrificing.] [From
Sacrifice, n.: cf. F. sacrifier, L. sacrificare; sacer
sacred, holy + -ficare (only in comp.) to make. See -fy.]
1. 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; as, to sacrifice an ox or a
sheep.
[1913 Webster]
Oft sacrificing bullock, lamb, or kid. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
2. 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.
[1913 Webster]
Condemned to sacrifice his childish years
To babbling ignorance, and to empty fears. --Prior.
[1913 Webster]
The Baronet had sacrificed a large sum . . . for the
sake of . . . making this boy his heir. --G. Eliot.
[1913 Webster]
3. To destroy; to kill. --Johnson.
[1913 Webster]
4. To sell at a price less than the cost or the actual value.
[Tradesmen's Cant]
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Sacrifice \Sac"ri*fice\ (?; 277), n. [OE. sacrifise, sacrifice,
F. sacrifice, fr. L. sacrificium; sacer sacred + facere to
make. See Sacred, and Fact.]
1. The offering of anything to God, or to a god; consecratory
rite.
[1913 Webster]
Great pomp, and sacrifice, and praises loud,
To Dagon. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
2. 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.
[1913 Webster]
Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood
Of human sacrifice. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
My life, if thou preserv'st my life,
Thy sacrifice shall be. --Addison.
[1913 Webster]
3. 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;
as, the sacrifice of interest to pleasure, or of pleasure
to interest.
[1913 Webster]
4. A sale at a price less than the cost or the actual value.
[Tradesmen's Cant]
[1913 Webster]
Burnt sacrifice. See Burnt offering, under Burnt.
Sacrifice hit (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.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Sacrifice \Sac"ri*fice\, v. i.
To make offerings to God, or to a deity, of things consumed
on the altar; to offer sacrifice.
[1913 Webster]
O teacher, some great mischief hath befallen
To that meek man, who well had sacrificed. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
sacrifice
n 1: the act of losing or surrendering something as a penalty
for a mistake or fault or failure to perform etc. [syn:
forfeit, forfeiture, sacrifice]
2: personnel that are sacrificed (e.g., surrendered or lost in
order to gain an objective)
3: a loss entailed by giving up or selling something at less
than its value; "he had to sell his car at a considerable
sacrifice"
4: the act of killing (an animal or person) in order to
propitiate a deity [syn: sacrifice, ritual killing]
5: (baseball) an out that advances the base runners
v 1: endure the loss of; "He gave his life for his children"; "I
gave two sons to the war" [syn: sacrifice, give]
2: kill or destroy; "The animals were sacrificed after the
experiment"; "The general had to sacrifice several soldiers
to save the regiment"
3: sell at a loss
4: make a sacrifice of; in religious rituals
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
256 Moby Thesaurus words for "sacrifice":
abandon, abandonment, abjuration, abjure, altruism, annihilate,
appease, bane, be bereaved of, bereave of life, bereavement, blood,
bloodletting, bloodshed, braining, burnt offering, carry away,
carry off, cease, cede, cession, chloroform, close out, collection,
commitment, consecrate, consecration, convert into cash, cost,
cut down, cut off, cut under, damage, dead loss, dealing death,
debit, dedicate, dedication, default, denial, denudation,
deprivation, deprive of life, desist, despoilment, destroy,
destruction, destruction of life, detriment, devote, devotion,
disgorge, disinterest, disinterestedness, dispatch, dispensation,
dispense with, disposal, dispose of, disposition, dispossession,
divestment, do away with, do for, do to death, do without, donate,
drink offering, drop, dump, dumping, effect a sale, end, eschew,
euthanasia, ex voto offering, execute, execution, expense,
exterminate, extermination, finish, finish off, flow of blood,
forbear, forfeit, forfeiture, forgo, forgoing, forswear,
forswearing, get along without, get rid of, getting rid of, give,
give away, give up, giving up, go astray from, gore,
have done with, heave offering, hecatomb, holocaust,
human sacrifice, humility, immolate, immolate before, immolation,
incense, incur loss, infanticide, injury, job, kill, killing,
kiss good-bye, lapidation, launch into eternity,
lean over backwards, let go, let slip, letting go, libation,
liquidate, lose, lose out, loser, losing, losing streak, loss,
lynch, mactation, make a sacrifice, make a sale, make away with,
make propitiation, make sacrifice to, market, martyr, martyrdom,
martyrization, martyrize, merchandise, mercy killing, mislay,
misplace, miss, modesty, move, oblation, offer, offer sacrifice,
offer up, offering, offertory, part with, peace offering,
perdition, piacular offering, poison, poisoning, privation,
propitiate, purge, put away, put down, put to death, put to sleep,
quitclaim, recant, recantation, refrain from, release, relinquish,
relinquishment, remove from life, render up, renounce,
renunciation, resell, resign, resignation, retail, retract,
retraction, riddance, ritual killing, ritual murder, robbery, ruin,
sacramental offering, scapegoat, self-abasement, self-abnegation,
self-denial, self-devotion, self-effacement, self-forgetfulness,
self-immolation, self-neglect, self-neglectfulness,
self-renouncement, self-sacrifice, self-subjection, selflessness,
sell, sell off, sell on consignment, sell out, sell over,
sell retail, sell short, sell up, sell wholesale, shooting,
slaughter, slay, slaying, spare, spoliation, starve, stoning, stop,
stripping, suffer loss, surrender, suttee, sutteeism, swear off,
swearing off, take life, take off, taking away, taking of life,
thank offering, throw up, total loss, turn into money, turn over,
unacquisitiveness, undercut, undergo privation, undersell, unload,
unpossessiveness, unselfishness, vacate, victimize,
votive offering, waive, wander from, whole offering, wholesale,
yield, yielding
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:
Sacrifice
The offering up of sacrifices is to be regarded as a divine
institution. It did not originate with man. God himself
appointed it as the mode in which acceptable worship was to be
offered to him by guilty man. The language and the idea of
sacrifice pervade the whole Bible.
Sacrifices were offered in the ante-diluvian age. The Lord
clothed Adam and Eve with the skins of animals, which in all
probability had been offered in sacrifice (Gen. 3:21). Abel
offered a sacrifice "of the firstlings of his flock" (4:4; Heb.
11:4). A distinction also was made between clean and unclean
animals, which there is every reason to believe had reference to
the offering up of sacrifices (Gen. 7:2, 8), because animals
were not given to man as food till after the Flood.
The same practice is continued down through the patriarchal
age (Gen. 8:20; 12:7; 13:4, 18; 15:9-11; 22:1-18, etc.). In the
Mosaic period of Old Testament history definite laws were
prescribed by God regarding the different kinds of sacrifices
that were to be offered and the manner in which the offering was
to be made. The offering of stated sacrifices became indeed a
prominent and distinctive feature of the whole period (Ex.
12:3-27; Lev. 23:5-8; Num. 9:2-14). (See ALTAR.)
We learn from the Epistle to the Hebrews that sacrifices had
in themselves no value or efficacy. They were only the "shadow
of good things to come," and pointed the worshippers forward to
the coming of the great High Priest, who, in the fullness of the
time, "was offered once for all to bear the sin of many."
Sacrifices belonged to a temporary economy, to a system of types
and emblems which served their purposes and have now passed
away. The "one sacrifice for sins" hath "perfected for ever them
that are sanctified."
Sacrifices were of two kinds: 1. Unbloody, such as (1)
first-fruits and tithes; (2) meat and drink-offerings; and (3)
incense. 2. Bloody, such as (1) burnt-offerings; (2)
peace-offerings; and (3) sin and trespass offerings. (See OFFERINGS.)