potter's field
Americannoun
noun
-
a cemetery where the poor or unidentified are buried at the public expense
-
New Testament the land bought by the Sanhedrin with the money paid for the betrayal of Jesus (which Judas had returned to them) to be used as a burial place for strangers and the friendless poor (Acts 1:19; Matthew 27:7)
Etymology
Origin of potter's field
First recorded in 1520–30
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“We played softball next to the potter’s field where he was buried and we would visit him on the holidays, with flowers and prayers,” she said.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 13, 2023
The family lived down the street from the potter’s field where the boy was first buried, and placed flowers there on holidays.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 13, 2023
After an autopsy, Joseph was buried for the first time at a potter’s field in the city.
From Washington Post • Dec. 8, 2022
The Penn Museum was built on property that once adjoined the Blockley Almshouse, right between a potter’s field and Penn Medical School.
From New York Times • Oct. 19, 2022
Mr. Collins caught the fever, and a few days later he joined the rest of his family members in the crowded potter’s field.
From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
