\Sar*coph"a*gus\, n.; pl. L. {Sarcophagi}, E.
{Sarcophaguses}. [L., fr. Gr. sarkofa`gos, properly, eating
flesh; sa`rx, sa`rkos, flesh + fagei^n to eat. Cf.
{Sarcasm}.]
1. A species of limestone used among the Greeks for making
   coffins, which was so called because it consumed within a
   few weeks the flesh of bodies deposited in it. It is
   otherwise called {lapis Assius}, or {Assian stone}, and is
   said to have been found at Assos, a city of Lycia.
   --Holland.
2. A coffin or chest-shaped tomb of the kind of stone
   described above; hence, any stone coffin.
3. A stone shaped like a sarcophagus and placed by a grave as
   a memorial.