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.
Milton. 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.
Prior.
The Baronet had sacrificed a large sum . . . for the sake of . . . making this boy his heir.
G. Eliot. 3. To destroy; to kill. Johnson.
4. To sell at a price less than the cost or the actual value. [Tradesmen's Cant]
Sacrifice
(Sac"ri*fice), 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.
Milton.
