sacrifices

Noun

sacrifice (countable and uncountable, plural sacrifices)

1. Originally, the killing (and often burning) of a human being or an animal as an offering to a deity; later, also the offering of an object to a deity.
   • They firſt vvaſh the dead body, paint him, clothe him, and ſo conueigh him to his Dormitorie, vvhich is ſpacious and neat, vvherein they bury his Armolets, Bracelets, Shackles and ſuch Treaſure, concluding their Ceremonies vvith Mimmicke geſtures and eiaculations: vvhich, vvith the Sacrifice of a...1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “[Angola]”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC, pages 9–10
2. A human being or an animal, or a physical object or immaterial thing (see etymology 1 sense 1.3), offered to a deity.
   • O th'inchaunting vvords of that baſe ſlaue, / Made him to thinke Epeus pine-tree Horſe [i.e., the Trojan Horse] / A ſacrifize t'appeaſe Mineruas vvrath: […]1594, Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Nash[e], The Tragedie of Dido Queene of Carthage: […], London: […] Widdowe Orwin, for Thomas Woodcocke, […], →OCLC, Act II, signature [B4], verso
3. (figuratively) The offering of devotion, penitence, prayer, thanksgiving, etc., to a deity.
   • Let vs therfore by him [Jesus] offre allwayes vnto God the ſacrifice of prayſe: that is to ſaye, the frute of thoſe lippes which confeſſe his name.1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Hebrues xiij:[15]...
4. (specifically) Jesus Christ's voluntary offering of himself to God the Father to be crucified as atonement for the sins of humankind.
5. (broadly, specifically) The rite of Holy Communion or the Mass, regarded as (Protestantism) an offering of thanksgiving to God for Christ's crucifixion, or (Roman Catholicism) a perpetual re-presentation of Christ's sacrificial offering.
   • The pretensions of the holy see, the authority of tradition, purgatory, transubstantiation, the sacrifice of the mass, […] were copiously discussed.1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter VI, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume II, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, pages 109–110
6. (figuratively) The destruction or surrender of anything for the sake of something else regarded as more urgent or valuable; also, the thing destroyed or surrendered for this purpose.
   • the sacrifice of one’s spare time in order to volunteer

See all 19 meanings of sacrifice