golgotha
(ˈgɒlgəθə)
[a. L. (Vulg.) golgotha, Gr. γολγοθά, ad. gogolþā, Aramaic form of Heb. gulgōleþ skull: see Calvary.]
1. A place of interment; a graveyard, charnel-house.
| [1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iv. i. 144 This Land [shall] be call'd The field of Golgotha, and dead mens Sculls.] 1604 Marston & Webster Malcontent iv. v, This earth is only the grave and golgotha wherein all things that live must rot. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Skiamachia Wks. (1711) 204 These have..dy'd the white fields in blood, turned them into a Golgotha. 1749 J. Gwyn Ess. on Design Pref. 6 Westminster-abbey..was by no Means intended as a mere Golgotha for the Remains of the..Dead. 1878 H. M. Stanley Dark Cont. I. i. 35 From time immemorial this old beach has been the depository of the dead, and unless the Prince prosecutes his good work for the reclamation of this golgotha [etc.]. |
† 2. University slang. (See quots.) Obs.
| 1726 Amherst Terræ Fil. ii. 53 Here is that famous apartment, by idle wits and buffoons nick-named Golgotha, that is, the place of sculls or heads of colleges and halls, where they meet and debate upon all extraordinary affairs. a 1742 Lloyd Charity, The Golgotha of learned fools. 1791 2nd Heroic Ep. to J. Priestley in Poet. Reg. (1808) 415 Dragg'd down to Oxford, at its stern command, Before dread Golgotha I see thee stand, Arraign'd, condemn'd. 1803 Gradus ad Cantab. 66 Golgotha, the place where the heads of Houses sit at St. Mary's in awful array. |