Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- Usually catacombs. an underground cemetery, especially one consisting of tunnels and rooms with recesses dug out for coffins and tombs.
- the Catacombs, the subterranean burial chambers of the early Christians in and near Rome, Italy.
- an underground passageway, especially one full of twists and turns.
noun
- (usually plural) an underground burial place, esp the galleries at Rome, consisting of tunnels with vaults or niches leading off them for tombs
- a series of interconnected underground tunnels or caves
usually catacombs, from Old English catacumbas, from Late Latin (400 C.E.) catacumbae (plural), originally the region of underground tombs between the 2nd and 3rd milestones of the Appian Way (where the bodies of apostles Paul and Peter, among others, were said to have been laid), origin obscure, perhaps once a proper name, or dissimilation from Latin cata tumbas “at the graves,” from cata- “among” + tumbas. accusative plural of tumba “tomb” (see tomb).
If so, the word perhaps was altered by influence of Latin -cumbere “to lie.” From the same source are French catacombe, Italian catacomba, Spanish catacumba. Extended by 1836 in English to any subterranean receptacle of the dead (as in Paris). Related: Catacumbal.