potter's field

American  

noun

(sometimes initial capital letters)

1. a piece of ground reserved as a burial place for strangers and the friendless poor. Matthew 27:7.

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potter's field British  

noun

1. a cemetery where the poor or unidentified are buried at the public expense

2. 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)

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Etymology

Origin of potter's field

First recorded in 1520–30

Example Sentences

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

“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

After an autopsy, Joseph was buried for the first time at a potter’s field in the city.

From Washington Post • Dec. 8, 2022

To stave off a secondary public health emergency, any bodies left unclaimed for 14 days were, for a time, being buried at a potter’s field on Hart Island in the Bronx.

From New York Times • Apr. 30, 2020

One of the worst things that could be said about someone from Harlem was that he was buried in potter’s field.

From "Bad Boy" by Walter Dean Myers

Related Words

• garden
• graveyard
• mortuary
• tomb