catacomb Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an underground tunnel with recesses where bodies were buried (as in ancient Rome)

WordNet

Cat"a*comb noun
Etymology
It. catacomba, fr. L. catacumba perh. from Gr. downward, down + cavity.
Definitions
  1. A cave, grotto, or subterraneous place of large extent used for the burial of the dead; -- commonly in the plural. ✍ The terms is supposed to have been applied originally to the tombs under the church of St. Sebastain in Rome. The most celebrated catacombs are those near Rome, on the Appian Way, supposed to have been the place or refuge and interment of the early Chrictians; those of Egypt, extending for a wide distance in the vicinity of Cairo; and those of Paris, in abandoned stone quarries, excavated under a large portion of the city.

Webster 1913