holocaust

noun holocausts

1. An offering or sacrifice to a deity that is completely burned to ashes. And the ſcribe ſayde vnto hym: well maſter⸝ thou haſt ſayde the trugthe⸝ thatt there ys one God⸝ and that there is none but he. And to love hym with all the herte⸝ and with all the mynde⸝ and with all the ſoule⸝ ãd with all the ſtrẽgthe. And to love a mans nehbour as hym ſilfe⸝ ys a greater thynge t
2. also, broadly, figuratively A complete or large offering or sacrifice. Inſnar'd ſhe was in Shechems Treachery, / And, ſilly Mayden, ſuddenly became / An Holocauſt to Luſts unhappy Flame.

   Similar: hecatomb

3. broadly Complete destruction by fire; also, the thing so destroyed. So vertue giv'n for loſt, / Depreſt, and overthrown, as ſeem'd, / Like that ſelf-begott'n bird [the phoenix] / In the Arabian woods emboſt, / That no ſecond knows nor third, / And lay e're while a Holocauſt, / From out her aſhie womb now teem'd, / Revives, reflouriſhes, then vigorous moſt / When moſ
4. broadly, figuratively Extensive destruction of a group of animals or (especially) people; a large-scale massacre or slaughter. a nuclear holocaust
5. broadly, figuratively Alternative letter-case form of Holocaust (“the systematic mass murder (democide or genocide) of Jews (and, more broadly, of disabled people, homosexuals, Romanis, Slavs, and others) perpetrated by Nazi Germany shortly before and during World War II”); hence, the state-sponsored mass murder of a particular group of people in society.

verb holocausts · holocausting · holocausted

1. also, figuratively, transitive To sacrifice (chiefly an animal) to be completely burned. Such acts muſt needs be his, who did deviſe / By crying Altars down, to ſacrifice / To private malice; where you might have ſeen / His conſcience holocauſted to his ſpleen.
2. transitive To destroy (something) completely, especially by fire. The meek and candid persecutor, Cardinal [Reginald] Pole, who killed and took possession when [Thomas] Cranmer was holocausted, built the chapel, and became the voucher for the truth of the absurd legend.
3. transitive To subject (a group of people) to a holocaust (mass annihilation); to destroy en masse. Over the centuries, we [Jews] were expelled, pogromed, crusaded, inquisitioned, jihaded, and holocausted out of countries that we helped to make great.

proper noun the Holocaust · Holocausts

1. historical, uncountable, usually The systematic mass murder (genocide) of an estimated six million European Jews perpetrated by Nazi Germany during World War II. Among Soloway’s congregants injured in the attack was Barbara Steinmetz, an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor who has become one of the most poignant symbols of the attack.

   Similar: Shoah

2. broadly, historical, uncommon, uncountable, usually The systematic mass murder (democide) perpetrated by Nazi Germany of somewhere between eleven and fourteen million people they considered subhuman, namely six million Jews and from five to eight million others (including Romanis, Slavs, homosexuals, and people with physical and mental disabilities). For quotations using this term, see Citations:Holocaust.

Similar: Shoah, the Nazi genocide

verb Holocausts · Holocausting · Holocausted

1. Alternative letter-case form of holocaust (“to subject to a mass annihilation; to destroy en masse”).