dolmen

[ dohl-men, -muh n, dol- ]

/ ˈdoʊl mɛn, -mən, ˈdɒl- /

noun Archaeology.

a structure usually regarded as a tomb, consisting of two or more large, upright stones set with a space between and capped by a horizontal stone.

Nearby words

dolly-posh, dollyman, dolma, dolman, dolman sleeve, dolmen, dolmetsch, dolní věstonice, dolomite, dolomite marble, dolomites

Compare chamber tomb.

Origin of dolmen

1855–60; < French < Cornish, lenited form of tolmen hole of stone (taken by French archeologists to mean cromlech)

Also called portal tomb.

Related forms

dol·men·ic

[dohl-men-ik, dol-] /doʊlˈmɛn ɪk, dɒl-/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for dolmen

The church is laid out like a dolmen, and the towers are the menhirs.
Rodin: The Man and his Art|Judith Cladel
I have represented Mago as sacrificing in a dolmen in the form of a covered avenue below a tumulus.
The Adventures of Captain Mago|Lon Cahun
The custom of burning the body commenced in the Stone Age, before the long barrow or the dolmen had passed out of use.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 3|Various
We do at least know that the dolmen was raised above a burial, in the one instance of Zennor above two.
Nooks and Corners of Cornwall|C. A. Dawson Scott

Menhirs are still erected by the dolmen builders on the Brama-pootra, the Khassias, and always in commemoration of the dead.
A Book of the West. Volume I Devon|S. Baring-Gould

British Dictionary definitions for dolmen

dolmen

/ (ˈdɒlmɛn) /

noun

(in British archaeology) a Neolithic stone formation, consisting of a horizontal stone supported by several vertical stones, and thought to be a tomb

(in French archaeology) any megalithic tomb

Word Origin for dolmen

C19: from French, probably from Old Breton tol table, from Latin tabula board + Breton mēn stone, of Celtic origin; see table

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012