1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Holocaust

HOLOCAUST (Gr. ὁλόκαυστον, or ὁλόκαυτον, wholly burnt), strictly a sacrifice wholly destroyed by fire, such as the sacrifices of the Jews, described in the Pentateuch as “whole burnt offerings” (see Sacrifice). The term is now often applied to a catastrophe on a large scale, whether by fire or not, or to a massacre or slaughter.