catacomb
- Usually catacombs. an underground cemetery, especially one consisting of tunnels and rooms with recesses dug out for coffins and tombs.
- the Catacombs, the subterranean burial chambers of the early Christians in and near Rome, Italy.
- an underground passageway, especially one full of twists and turns.
Origin of catacomb
Examples from the Web for catacomb
Historical Examples
And is there not a column in the catacomb to which, if a madman is bound, he recovers his reason?
The Book of All-PowerEdgar Wallace
The plan of the catacomb of S. Priscilla is a good illustration of this.
Museum of AntiquityL. W. Yaggy
The only marvel is, how he comes to be hiding himself in the catacomb.
The Marble Faun, Volume I.Nathaniel Hawthorne
What does it matter, so long as the whole mountain is a catacomb of kings?
Summer Cruising in the South SeasCharles Warren Stoddard
Let us leave the catacomb, if you wish, and you can repeat your story to me up above.
Cosmopolis, CompletePaul Bourget
catacomb
- (usually plural) an underground burial place, esp the galleries at Rome, consisting of tunnels with vaults or niches leading off them for tombs
- a series of interconnected underground tunnels or caves
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for catacomb
n.
usually catacombs, from Old English catacumbas, from Late Latin (400 C.E.) catacumbae (plural), originally the region of underground tombs between the 2nd and 3rd milestones of the Appian Way (where the bodies of apostles Paul and Peter, among others, were said to have been laid), origin obscure, perhaps once a proper name, or dissimilation from Latin cata tumbas "at the graves," from cata- "among" + tumbas. accusative plural of tumba "tomb" (see tomb).
If so, the word perhaps was altered by influence of Latin -cumbere "to lie." From the same source are French catacombe, Italian catacomba, Spanish catacumba. Extended by 1836 in English to any subterranean receptacle of the dead (as in Paris). Related: Catacumbal.