Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913
Holocaust
Hol′o·caust (hŏl′ō·ka̤st), n. [L. holocaustum, Gr. ὁλόκαυστον, neut. of ὁλόκαυστος, ὁλόκαυτος, burnt whole; ὁλὀς whole + καυστός burnt, fr. καίειν to burn (cf. Caustic): cf. F. holocauste.] 1. A burnt sacrifice; an offering, the whole of which was consumed by fire, among the Jews and some pagan nations. Milton.
2. Sacrifice or loss of many lives, as by the burning of a theater or a ship. [An extended use not authorized by careful writers.]