huacan.

1847 W. H. Prescott Hist. Conquest Peru I. i. iii. 87 The subjects of the Incas enrolled among their inferior deities many objects in nature, as the elements,..great mountains and rivers... These consecrated objects were termed huacas,—a word of most prolific import; since it signified a temple, a tomb, any natural object remarkable for its size or shape, in short, a cloud of meanings.

1860 W. Bollaert Antiq. Res. 161 A huaca was discovered, in 1830, at the entrance of the valley of Taparapacá; it was surrounded with stones.

1862 D. Wilson Prehistoric Man I. ix. 298 The huacas or tombs of the Incas.

1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 452/2 The most interesting remains in Peru are those called Huacas; but whether they were forts, or palaces, or tombs, is not as yet clearly ascertained.

1901 A. H. Keane Central & S. Amer. I. 208 Of these ruins the largest, as well as the most characteristic, are the truncated pyramids here [i.e. in Peru] called huacas, or burying-places.

1902 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 380/1 The most prolific source of Peruvian relics is the sepulchres or huacas.

1960 M. Savill tr. H. Leicht Pre-Inca Art & Culture iv. 74 The ancestral worship in the land expressed itself most vividly in the veneration of the so-called Huacas, a word which signifies not only the large temples and pyramids but a host of small and insignificant objects sacred to the Indians.