sarcophagus

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a stone coffin, often carved or decorated and displayed above ground

   The archaeologists found an inscribed sarcophagus inside the tomb.

2. 2
   noun

   a massive protective enclosure built around a dangerously contaminated structure

   Engineers inspected the concrete sarcophagus surrounding the damaged reactor.

From Latin sarcophagus, from Greek sarkophagos, 'flesh-eating,' formed from sarx, 'flesh,' and phagein, 'to eat.' The term first described a limestone believed to consume a corpse quickly, then the stone coffin made from it.

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