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Sacrifice   /sˈækrəfˌaɪs/   Listen
noun
Sacrifice  n.  
1.
The offering of anything to God, or to a god; consecratory rite. "Great pomp, and sacrifice, and praises loud, To Dagon."
2.
Anything consecrated and offered to God, or to a divinity; an immolated victim, or an offering of any kind, laid upon an altar, or otherwise presented in the way of religious thanksgiving, atonement, or conciliation. "Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood Of human sacrifice." "My life, if thou preserv'st my life, Thy sacrifice shall be."
3.
Destruction or surrender of anything for the sake of something else; devotion of some desirable object in behalf of a higher object, or to a claim deemed more pressing; hence, also, the thing so devoted or given up; as, the sacrifice of interest to pleasure, or of pleasure to interest.
4.
A sale at a price less than the cost or the actual value. (Tradesmen's Cant)
Burnt sacrifice. See Burnt offering, under Burnt.
Sacrifice hit (Baseball), in batting, a hit of such a kind that the batter loses his chance of tallying, but enables one or more who are on bases to get home or gain a base.


verb
Sacrifice  v. t.  (past & past part. sacrificed; pres. part. sacrificing)  
1.
To make an offering of; to consecrate or present to a divinity by way of expiation or propitiation, or as a token acknowledgment or thanksgiving; to immolate on the altar of God, in order to atone for sin, to procure favor, or to express thankfulness; as, to sacrifice an ox or a sheep. "Oft sacrificing bullock, lamb, or kid."
2.
Hence, to destroy, surrender, or suffer to be lost, for the sake of obtaining something; to give up in favor of a higher or more imperative object or duty; to devote, with loss or suffering. "Condemned to sacrifice his childish years To babbling ignorance, and to empty fears." "The Baronet had sacrificed a large sum... for the sake of... making this boy his heir."
3.
To destroy; to kill.
4.
To sell at a price less than the cost or the actual value. (Tradesmen's Cant)


Sacrifice  v. i.  To make offerings to God, or to a deity, of things consumed on the altar; to offer sacrifice. "O teacher, some great mischief hath befallen To that meek man, who well had sacrificed."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Sacrifice" Quotes from Famous Books



... and a croaky voice. He has become a horror to me, and I resort to the most cowardly expedients to avoid meeting him. He, on the other hand, wanting another franc, dodges me round those trees at the corner, and at the back door; and I have a presentiment upon me that I shall fall a sacrifice to ...
— The Letters of Charles Dickens - Vol. 1 (of 3), 1833-1856 • Charles Dickens
... the German nation, you will agree, I think, with me, that he did well and not ill; you will not sacrifice his great name to the disdain of a shallow philosophy, or to the grimacing of a dead superstition, whose ghost is struggling ...
— Short Studies on Great Subjects • James Anthony Froude
... centralized directive, all the important decisions of which have been thrashed out and re-thrashed until they have general support within the party; 600,000 men and women prepared, not only to vote in support of these decisions, but with a carefully fostered readiness to sacrifice their lives for them if necessary; 600,000 men and women who are persuaded that by their way alone is humanity to be saved; who are persuaded (to put it as cynically and unsympathetically as possible) that the noblest death one can die is in carrying ...
— The Crisis in Russia - 1920 • Arthur Ransome
... Lightfoot, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, the great rabbinical scholar of his time, attempted to reconcile the two main legends in Genesis by saying that of the "clean sort of beasts there were seven of every kind created, three couples for breeding and the odd one for Adam's sacrifice on his fall, which God foresaw"; and that of unclean beasts only one couple ...
— History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom • Andrew Dickson White
... a knot. "Buckingham has been wanting a sacrifice ever since he killed Wettin, that he might slay my mother ...
— The Lost Continent • Edgar Rice Burroughs


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