sacrifice
verbEtymology From Middle English sacrificen (“to offer a sacrifice to a deity”), from sacrifice (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming infinitives of verbs).
10 senses
- 1To offer (a human being or an animal, or an object) to a deity.
- 2To destroy or kill (a human being or an animal)…
- 3To destroy or surrender (something) for the sake of…
- 4Of a batter: to advance (one or more runners on base) by…
- 5To sell (something) at less than its value, thus…
- 6To intentionally allow (a piece) to be captured by the…
- 7To offer a human being or an animal, or an object, to a deity.
- 8Of a batter: to bat the ball so that it can be fielded…
- 9To make a bid of a contract which is unlikely to be…
- 10To celebrate Holy Communion or Mass.
1
Lifestyle, Religion To offer (a human being or an animal, or an object) to a deity.
- And there ſhall bee no leauened bread ſeene with thee in all thy coaſts ſeuen dayes, neither ſhall there any thing of the fleſh, which thou ſacrificedſt the firſt day at Euen, remaine all night, vntill the morning.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 16:4, column 2:
- [B]oth the muſes and the graces are his hard Miſtriſſes, though he daily Invocate them, though he ſacrifize Hecatombs, they ſtil look a ſquint, […]a. 1632 (date written), John Donne, “[Characters.] The True Character of a Dunce.”, in Paradoxes, Problemes, Essayes, Characters, […], London: […] T. N. for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1652, →OCLC, page 68:
3 more examples
- Their Funerals are theſe, they bring the dead corps neere to their Churches, vvhere they ſacrifice him to aſhes, in coſtly perfumes, in Aromatique Gummes and Spices.1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “A Description of the Bannyans in India”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC, page 39:
- [T]he Scripture vvith indignation, oft times makes mention of humane ſacrifice among the Gentiles, vvhoſe oblations ſcarce made ſcruple of any Animall, ſacrificing not onely man, but Horſes, Lyons, Ægles; […]1646, Thomas Browne, “Of the Picture of Jephtha Sacrificing His Daughter”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC, 5th book, page 255:
- [I]f they ſacrifice their Enemies it is not neceſſary they ſhould eat them too. After all, I vvill not be peremptory in the Negative, but I ſpeak as to the compaſs of my ovvn knovvledge, and knovv ſome of theſe Cannibal ſtories to be falſe, and many of them have been diſproved ſince I firſt vvent to the VVeſt Indies.1697, William Dampier, chapter XVII, in A New Voyage Round the World. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, page 485:
2
Broadly, Figuratively To destroy or kill (a human being or an animal); specifically (sciences), to kill (an animal) for a scientific experiment or test.
- Condemn'd to ſacrifice his childiſh Years / To babling Ign'rance, and to empty Fears; […]1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Solomon on the Vanity of the World. A Poem in Three Books.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC, page 476:
- Heaven chastises thee, Baharkan! Thou wast cruel, vindictive, and inexorable. With thee humanity had no value. Thou sacrificedst thy brethren on the slightest suspicion.1812, “The Story of Baharkan, the Intemperate”, in Tales of the East: Comprising the Most Popular Romances of Oriental Origin; […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Company] for John Ballantyne and Company, Sylvester Doig and Andrew Stirling; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, and Robert Scholey, →OCLC, page 133, column 2:
3
Broadly, Figuratively To destroy or surrender (something) for the sake of something else regarded as more urgent or valuable.
- Venison has many advantages over meat from factory farms, although it still requires a hunter to sacrifice the life of a deer.
- Deuce take lady S⸺; and if I know D⸺y, he is a rawboned faced fellow, not handsome, nor visibly so young as you say: she sacrifices two thousand pounds a year, and keeps only six hundred.1710 October 1 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Jonathan Swift, “[Dr. Swift’s Journal to Stella.] Letter IV.”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume XIV, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 208:
4 more examples
- [W]riters ſhould ceaſe from inteſtine hoſtilities; and, inſtead of ſacrificing each other to malice and contempt, endeavour to avert perſecution from the meaneſt of their fraternity.1751 August 16 (Gregorian calendar), Samuel Johnson, “No. 145. Monday, August 6. 1751.”, in The Rambler, volume VI, Edinburgh: […] Sands, Murray, and Cochran; sold by W. Gordon, C. Wright, J. Yair, […], published 1751, →OCLC, page 109:
- Could it then be doubted that, if the Churchmen would even now comply with his wishes, he would willingly sacrifice the Puritans?1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter VII, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume II, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 222:
- The Baronet had sacrificed a large sum, and even straitened the resources by which he was to carry out his architectural schemes, for the sake of removing the entail from his estate, and making this boy his heir—[…]1857, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “[Mr Gilfil’s Love-story.] Chapter IV”, in Scenes of Clerical Life […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published January 1858, →OCLC, page 243:
- From the pangs of grief thou shalt then be again released, / When thou sacrificest thine own affections, O my heart!1862, Aḥmad Shāh Abdālī [i.e., Ahmad Shāh Durrānī], “[The Poems of Aḥmad Shāh, Abdālī.] [Poem] IX.”, in H[enry] G[eorge] Raverty, transl., Selections from the Poetry of the Afghāns, from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century: […], London; Edinburgh: Williams and Norgate, […], →OCLC, page 301:
4
Ball games, Baseball, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports Broadly, Figuratively Of a batter: to advance (one or more runners on base) by batting the ball so it can be fielded, placing the batter out but with insufficient time to put the runner(s) out.
5
Business Broadly, Dated, Figuratively, Slang To sell (something) at less than its value, thus incurring a monetary loss.
- A newspaper advertisement announces that "A professional gentleman is instructed to sacrifice Three young sound Horses at half their cost." We wonder what deity horses could be sacrificed to?1850 March 30, “Sacrifice Extraordinary”, in Punch, or The London Charivari, volume XVIII, London: […] William Bradbury, […], and Frederick Mullett Evans, […], →OCLC, page 130, column 2:
6
Board games, Chess, Games Broadly, Figuratively To intentionally allow (a piece) to be captured by the opponent in order to improve one's position in the game.
7
Lifestyle, Religion To offer a human being or an animal, or an object, to a deity.
- All things come alike to all: there is one euent to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and to the cleane, and to the vncleane; to him that ſacrificeth, and to him that ſacrificeth not: as is the good, ſo is the ſinner, and hee that ſweareth, as he that feareth an oath.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ecclesiastes 9:2, column 1:
- Like a coy maiden, eaſe, vvhen courted moſt, / Fartheſt retires—an idol, at vvhoſe ſhrine / VVho oft'neſt ſacrifice are favor'd leaſt.1785, William Cowper, “Book I. The Sofa.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, page 22:
2 more examples
- [T]he sailors tremblingly / Call on the Twins of Jove with prayer and vow, / Gathered in fear upon the lofty prow, / And sacrifice with snow-white lambs, […]1818 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “To Castor and Pollux”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], new edition, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1840, →OCLC, page 338, column 1:
- If, therefore, because of money thou praisest God, not voluntarily thou sacrificest to God, but out of necessity thou sacrificest: because, beside Him, something else has thy love.1849, S[aint] Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, “Psalm LIV”, in T. Scratton, transl., Expositions on the Book of Psalms, […] (A Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church anterior to the Division of the East and West; XXX), volumes III (Psalm LIII.–LXXV.), Oxford, Oxfordshire: John Henry Parker; London: F[rancis] and J[ohn] Rivington, →OCLC, paragraph 10, page 23:
8
Ball games, Baseball, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports Broadly, Figuratively Of a batter: to bat the ball so that it can be fielded, placing the batter out but allowing one or more runners on base to advance.
9
Bridge, Games Broadly, Figuratively To make a bid of a contract which is unlikely to be fulfilled, in the hope that that the player will incur fewer penalty points than the points likely to be gained by opponents in making their contract.
10
Christianity Broadly, Figuratively To celebrate Holy Communion or Mass.
- For what power but God's can make good the promise of tendering the Body and Blood of Christ, as a visible mean^([sic]) to convey His Spirit? And he that goes about to make this change by consecrating the eucharist, must needs be understood to acknowledge this power of God's; but this is not that acknowledgment, which sacrificing importeth, but that, which every act of religion implieth. He that sacrificeth, acknowledging that which he sacrificeth, with all that he hath, to [come from or belong to]^([sic]) God, to testify this acknowledgment, abandoneth that which he sacrificeth to be destroyed in testimony of it.1659, Herbert Thorndike, “[An Epilogue to the Tragedy of the Church of England, […].] Chapter V. It Cannot be Proved by the Old Testament that the Eucharist is a Sacrifice. How by the New Testament it may be so Accounted. […].”, in The Theological Works of Herbert Thorndike, […] (Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology; 66), volume IV, Oxford, Oxfordshire: John Henry Parker, published 1852, →OCLC, book III (Of the Laws of the Church), page 113:
- Derived terms
- resacrifice, sacrificable, sacrificeable, sacrificed, sacrificer, sacrificing, sacrificingly, self-sacrifice, self-sacrificing, unsacrificeable, unsacrificed, unsacrificing
- Related terms
- nonsacrificial, sacred, sacrificial, sacrificially, sacrificialness