immolate - Definitions from Dictionary.com

6 results for: immolate

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

im·mo·late

Audio Help [im-uh-leyt] Pronunciation Key

–verb (used with object), -lat·ed, -lat·ing.

1.	to sacrifice.

2.	to kill as a sacrificial victim, as by fire; offer in sacrifice.

3.	to destroy by fire.

[Origin: 1540–50; < L immolātus, ptp. of immolāre to sprinkle with holy meal prior to sacrificing, sacrifice, equiv. to im- im-¹ + mol(a) sacrificial barley cake, lit., millstone (see mill¹) + -ātus -ate¹

]

—Related forms

im·mo·la·tor, noun

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

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
immolate

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

im·mo·late Audio Help (ĭm'ə-lāt') Pronunciation Key
tr.v. im·mo·lat·ed, im·mo·lat·ing, im·mo·lates

To kill as a sacrifice.
To kill (oneself) by fire.
To destroy.

[Latin immolāre, immolāt-, to sacrifice, sprinkle with sacrificial meal : in-, on; see in-² + mola, meal, millstone; see melə- in Indo-European roots.]

im'mo·la'tion n., im'mo·la'tor n.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
immolate

1548, "to sacrifice, kill as a victim," originally an adj. (1534), from L. immolatus, pp. of immolare "to sacrifice," originally "to sprinkle with sacrificial meal," from in- "upon" + mola (salsa) "(sacrificial) meal," related to molere "to grind."

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

immolate
verb
offer as a sacrifice by killing or by giving up to destruction; "The Aztecs immolated human victims"; "immolate the valuables at the temple"

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

Immolate

Im"mo*late\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Immolated; p. pr. & vb. n. Immolating.] [L. immolatus, p. p. of immolare to sacrifice, orig., to sprinkle a victim with sacrifical meal; pref. im- in + mola grits or grains of spelt coarsely ground and mixed with salt; also, mill. See Molar, Meal ground grain.] To sacrifice; to offer in sacrifice; to kill, as a sacrificial victim.

Worshipers, who not only immolate to them [the deities] the lives of men, but . . . the virtue and honor of women. --Boyle.

Dictionary.com Word of the Day Archive - Cite This Source - Share This

immolate

immolate was Word of the Day on March 12, 2003.

Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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