holocaust means the systematic mass murder (genocide) of an estimated six million European Jews perpetrated by Nazi Germany during World War II. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 75 out of 100.
holocaust is pronounced /ˈhɒləkɔːst/.
Why “holocaust” is a great word
HOLOCAUST — [Proper Noun] The systematic genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of other persecuted groups, perpetrated by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II. The term is an ellipsis of 'Jewish holocaust'. The English word 'holocaust' derives from the Middle French holocauste, from Late Latin holocaustum, from Greek holokauston, a translation of Hebrew 'olah, meaning a completely (holos) burnt (kaustos) sacrificial offering. The term was used figuratively for large-scale destruction from the 1670s. Unlike “genocide” (a general, legal category for the crime) or “Shoah” (the Hebrew term for “catastrophe,” specific and stripped of sacrificial connotation), “Holocaust” is the freighted, proper name for the event, carrying within its ancient roots a chilling metaphor of a burnt offering. It is the ash settling on a coat sleeve, the methodical inventory of seized spectacles, and the relentless clicking of cattle-car wheels converging on a geography of barbed wire—a name whose archaic language of sacred violence now testifies to a modern altar where the offering was not given, but taken.
Etymology
Ellipsis of Jewish holocaust.
name
- 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.”
- 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.”
noun
- 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 then all holocauſtꝭ [holocaustes] and ſacrifiſes.”
- 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.”
- 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 moſt unactive deem'd, / And though her body die, her fame ſurvives, / A ſecular bird ages of lives.”
- Extensive destruction of a group of animals or (especially) people; a large-scale massacre or slaughter.“a nuclear holocaust”
verb
- 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.”
- 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.”
- 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.”