SARCOPHAGUS, n. Among the Greeks a coffin which being made of a certain kind of carnivorous stone, had the peculiar property of devouring the body placed in it. The sarcophagus known to modern obsequiographers is commonly a product of the carpenter's art.

Source: THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993)
 

Sarcophagus \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. [1913 Webster]

2. A coffin or chest-shaped tomb of the kind of stone described above; hence, any stone coffin. [1913 Webster]

3. A stone shaped like a sarcophagus and placed by a grave as a memorial. [1913 Webster]

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
 

sarcophagus

Source: WordNet (r) 2.0
 

Sarcophagus \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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)