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• Moloch
  Moloch

  noun

  (in the Bible) a deity whose worship was marked by the sacrifice of children by their own parents.
• moloch
  moloch

  noun

  a spiny Australian desert-living lizard, Moloch horridus, that feeds on ants: family Agamidae (agamas)

Moloch

American  

[moh-lok, mol-uhk] / ˈmoʊ lɒk, ˈmɒl ək /

Also Molech

noun

1. (in the Bible) a deity whose worship was marked by the sacrifice of children by their own parents.

2. anything conceived of as requiring appalling sacrifice.

   the Moloch of war.

3. moloch, a spiny agamid lizard, Moloch horridus, of Australian deserts, that resembles the horned lizard.

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moloch ¹ British  

/ ˈməʊlɒk /

noun

1. Also called: mountain devil.   spiny lizard.  a spiny Australian desert-living lizard, Moloch horridus, that feeds on ants: family Agamidae (agamas)

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Moloch ² British  

/ ˈməʊlɒk, ˈməʊlɛk /

noun

1. Old Testament a Semitic deity to whom parents sacrificed their children

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Moloch Cultural  

1. A Canaanite idol who demanded the sacrifice of first-born children. The Old Testament prophets railed against the worship of Moloch by the Israelites.

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Moloch also appears as one of the fallen angels in Milton's Paradise Lost and as a malevolent figure in other allegorical works of literature.

By extension, a “Moloch” is something that has the power to exact extreme sacrifice.

Etymology

Origin of Moloch

From Late Latin, from Greek Molóch, from Hebrew Mōlekh, which has the consonants of melekh “king” and the vowels of bōsheth “shame” (caused by idolatry and human sacrifice)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Moloch moloch

"It is not the time" to question Moloch.

From Salon ● May 27, 2022

Their most enthusiastic defender was J Michael Straczynski, who wrote the Nite Owl, Moloch, and Dr Manhattan prequels.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 23, 2019

Now it’s all about sacrifice: Crane wants Henry to sacrifice Moloch and be free from those devilish ties.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 2, 2014

Given that, what do we make of the way this episode ended, with Henry defying Moloch’s order to kill Katrina and instead plunging the sword into Moloch?

From New York Times ● Dec. 1, 2014

We are known to the world as a nation of “dollar chasers,” where nearly everything that should contribute to right living is sacrificed to the Moloch of money.

From Quacks and Grafters by Unknown

It's making out that I'd like to go back on my word, and refuse to give Marcel up to the moloch of Unaga.

From The Heart of Unaga by Cullum, Ridgwell

There can be no doubt that the individual who has once devoted himself to this moloch of the species becomes but too frequently its slave to an almost incredible degree.

From Plain Facts for Old and Young by Kellogg, John Harvey

Indeed, if it were only on this account, the national education of women is of the utmost consequence; for what a number of human sacrifices are made to that moloch, prejudice!

From Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Wollstonecraft, Mary

What a worse than moloch deity is that, which expects an offering of reason, duty, and discretion, to be made to its shrine!

From Clarissa Harlowe; or the history of a young lady — Volume 2 by Richardson, Samuel