potter's field
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.86 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
3
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A public place where strangers, paupers, and criminals are buried.
Example Sentences
- "The despised pauper, most likely a foreigner, when his spirit has gone to its final resting-place, is probably carried to the Potter's Field."
- "There was a Potter's Field, a cemetery for the poor and friendless, far out in the country."
- "Hart's Island has been used for the past 50 years as a potter's field for the burial of the paupers."
- "Potter's field. The commissioner shall have charge of the Potter's Fields, and when the necessity therefor shall arise, shall have power to lay out additional Potter's Fields or other public burial places for the poor and strangers and from time to time enclose and extend the same to make enclosures therein and to build vaults therein, and to provide all necessary labor and for interments therein. The Potter's Field on Hart's island, however, shall remain under the control of the department of correction, and the burial of deceased paupers therein shall continue under rules and regulations established by the joint action of the departments of social services and correction, or in case of disagreement between such departments, under such regulations as may be established by the mayor."
- "Humboldt had been buried not in potter's field but far out in Deathsille, New Jersey, one of those vast, necropolitan developments …"
- "The old, helpless, bedridden inmates lying often in their own filth awaiting death and burial in potters field, alone and unknown."
Etymology
This phrase derives from the reference to the potter's field in the New Testament, Matthew 27:7. After Judas Iscariot committed suicide and left the 30 pieces of silver from betraying Jesus, the chief priest use the money to purchase a potter's field to bury gentiles.