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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

hec·a·tomb

Audio Help [hek-uh-tohm, -toom] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	(in ancient Greece and Rome) a public sacrifice of 100 oxen to the gods.

2.	any great slaughter: the hecatombs of modern wars.

[Origin: 1585–95; < L hecatombé < Gk hekatómbé < *hekatombwā, equiv. to hékaton one hundred + *-bwā, taken to be a deriv. of boûs ox (see cow¹)

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Hecatomb

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

hec·a·tomb Audio Help (hěk'ə-tōm') Pronunciation Key
n.

A large-scale sacrifice or slaughter.
A sacrifice to the ancient Greek and Roman gods consisting originally of 100 oxen or cattle.

[Latin hecatombē, from Greek hekatombē : hekaton, hundred; see dek in Indo-European roots + -bē, oxen; see g^wou- in Indo-European roots.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
hecatomb

1592, from Gk. hekatombe "offering of 100 oxen," from hekaton "one hundred" (from on "one" + *katon "hundred") + bous "ox."

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

hecatomb
noun
a great sacrifice; an ancient Greek or Roman sacrifice of 100 oxen

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Hecatomb

Hec"a*tomb\, n. [L. hecatombe, Gr. ?; ? hundred + ? ox: cf. F. h['e]catombe.] (Antiq.) A sacrifice of a hundred oxen or cattle at the same time; hence, the sacrifice or slaughter of any large number of victims.

Slaughtered hecatombs around them bleed. --Addison.

More than a human hecatomb. --Byron.

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