(in ancient Greece or Rome) any great public sacrifice and feast, originally one in which 100 oxen were sacrificed a great sacrifice
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025
hec•a•tomb
(hek′ə tōm′, -to̅o̅m′),USA pronunciation n.
- (in ancient Greece and Rome) a public sacrifice of 100 oxen to the gods.
- any great slaughter:the hecatombs of modern wars.
- *hekatombwā, equivalent. to hékaton one hundred + *-bwā, taken to be a derivative of boûs ox (see cow1)
- Greek hekatómbē
- Latin hecatombē
- 1585–95
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