Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
CATACOMB
catacomb
(noun) an underground tunnel with recesses where bodies were buried (as in ancient Rome)
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
catacomb (plural catacombs)
(often plural) An underground system of tunnels and chambers with recesses for graves, used (in former times) as a cemetery; a tunnel system used for burying the dead, as in Paris or Ancient Rome.
Source: Wiktionary
Cat"a*comb, n. Etym: [It. catacomba, fr. L. catacumba perh. from Gr.
Definition: A cave, grotto, or subterraneous place of large extent used for the burial of the dead; -- commonly in the plural.
Note: 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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
27 June 2025
SQUARE
(adjective) having four equal sides and four right angles or forming a right angle; “a square peg in a round hole”; “a square corner”
Coffee Trivia
