| 释义 |
hecatomb, n.|ˈhɛkətuːm, -tɒm|
[ad. L. hecatombē, a. Gr. ἑκατόµβη, properly, ‘an offering of a hundred oxen’ (f. ἑκατόν hundred + βοῦς ox), but even in Homer meaning simply ‘a great public sacrifice’ not necessarily confined to oxen. Cf. F. hecatombe (15–16th c. in Hatz.-Darm., 1611 in Cotgr.).]
1. A great public sacrifice (properly of a hundred oxen) among the ancient Greeks and Romans, and hence extended to the religious sacrifices of other nations; a large number of animals offered or set apart for a sacrifice.
a1592H. Smith Wks. (1867) II. 391 Augustus had been very liberal in making the great sacrifice called hecatomb. 1599Marston Sco. Villanie ii. v. 198 Ile offer to thy shrine, An Hecatombe, of many spotted kine. 1659T. Pecke Parnassi Puerp. 157 For many Laurel wreaths, the Prince of Rome, The Gods presented with an Hecatomb. 1791Cowper Iliad i. 121 A whole hecatomb in Chrysa bled. 1820Byron Mar. Fal. i. ii. 231 Great expiations had a hecatomb. 1843Prescott Mexico (1850) I. 48 His altars reeked with the blood of human hecatombs in every city of the empire.
2. transf. and fig. A sacrifice of many victims; a great number of persons, animals, or things, presented as an offering, or devoted to destruction; loosely, a large number or quantity, a ‘heap’.
1598Marston Pygmal. v. 156 O Hecatombe! O Catastrophe! From Mydas pompe, to Irus beggery! 1646G. Daniel Poems Wks. 1878 I. 85 Whole Hecatombes of Tribute Rhimes. 1713Parnell Guardian No. 66 ⁋6 A hecatomb of reputations was that day to fall for her pleasure. 1821Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. 7 Hecatombs of broken hearts. 1879Geo. Eliot Theo. Such xi. 197 Some of us might be offering grateful hecatombs by mistake.
Hence ˈhecatomb v. trans., to furnish with a hecatomb.
a1745Swift Misc. Poems (1807) 37 Bid a hundred sons be born, To hecatomb the year. 1808J. Barlow Columb. iv. 230 What altars hecatomb'd with Christian gore! |