Holocaust
Holocaust , noun
[Latin holocaustum, Greek {not transcribed}, neut. of {not transcribed}, {not transcribed}, burnt whole; "o`los whole + kaysto`s burnt, from kai`ein to burn (compare Caustic): compare French holocauste.]
1.
A burnt sacrifice; an offering, the whole of which was consumed by fire, among the Jews and some pagan nations. — Milton
[An extended use not authorized by careful writers.]
2.
Sacrifice or loss of many lives, as by the burning of a theater or a ship.
3.
The mass killing of millions of Jews by the Nazis during the period from 1933 to 1945 in Germany and German-occupied lands; usually referred to as The Holocaust. In Hebrew, the same event is referred to by the word Shoah.