Hypertext Webster Gateway: "sarcophagus"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Sarcophagus \Sar*coph"a*gus\, n.; pl. L. {Sarcophagi}, E.
{Sarcophaguses}. [L., fr. Gr. sarkofa`gos, properly, eating
flesh; sa`rx, sa`rkos, flesh + fagei^n to eat. Cf.
{Sarcasm}.]
1. A species of limestone used among the Greeks for making
coffins, which was so called because it consumed within a
few weeks the flesh of bodies deposited in it. It is
otherwise called {lapis Assius}, or {Assian stone}, and is
said to have been found at Assos, a city of Lycia.
--Holland.
2. A coffin or chest-shaped tomb of the kind of stone
described above; hence, any stone coffin.
3. A stone shaped like a sarcophagus and placed by a grave as
a memorial.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
sarcophagus
n : a stone coffin (usually bearing sculpture or inscriptions)
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