pancratium

[pan-krey-shee-uhm]

noun

plural

pancratia 

1. (in ancient Greece) an athletic contest combining wrestling and boxing.

pancratium

/ pænˈkreɪʃɪəm, pænˈkrætɪk /

noun

1. (in ancient Greece) a wrestling and boxing contest

Other Word Forms

• pancratic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of pancratium¹

1595–1605; < Latin < Greek pankrátion all-power exercise (noun use of neuter adj.), equivalent to pan- pan- + krát ( os ) strength, mastery + -ion, neuter of -ios adj. suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of pancratium¹

C17: via Latin from Greek pankration, from _pan- + kratos strength

Example Sentences

Pancratium, pan-krā′ti-um, n. a contest of boxing and wrestling combined.—adjs.

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Charles Fox was a giant; but he did not have the strength, the grip, the never remitted activity, the infinite thrust, the parry, illustration, wit, epigram, and invincible appeal to conscience, feeling, and reason—in short, the complete supply and command of all resources that marked Toombs as foremost in the pancratium of parliamentary discussion.

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Another feature of the Olympian and Isthmian Games was the Pancratium, a contest calling for all the powers of the combatant.

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It has not been considered advisable to include in this volume such hothouse bulbous plants as Eucharis, Crinum, Hymenocallis, Pancratium, but only those kinds that are most likely to give general, if not universal, satisfaction when grown in the open air according to the cultural instructions to be found under the heads of the various genera.

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PANCRATIUM.—Most of the plants in this genus require to be grown in heat and moisture under glass.

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