sacr-, sacro- +

The cursed hunger for gold.

Those who live only to acquire wealth are characterized by Virgil as having auri sacra fames, or of being "money-mad".

A collector of religious objects.

1. To declare or to set apart a building, area of ground, or specific spot as holy.
2. To dedicate someone or something to a particular purpose.
3. To cause a custom to be revered.
4. To sanctify the bread and wine for use in the Communion service as symbols that represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
5. To ordain a priest as a bishop.
6. To officially make something sacred and able to be used for religious ceremonies.

1. Set apart or dedicated to the service of a deity; such as to consecrate a new church building.
2. An object of honor or veneration.
3. Dedicated solemnly to a service or goal; such as, having consecratedness to a life of science, writing, service to people, etc.

1. A ceremony in which someone or something is consecrated or dedicated.
2. A solemn commitment of one's life or time to some cherished purpose; such as, to a service or a goal in life.
3. The act, process, or ceremony of consecrating; that is, officially making something sacred and suitable to be used for religious ceremonies.

1. To damage something sacred, or to do something that is offensive to the religious nature of something.
2. To damage something that is held dear or which is revered.
3. To divest (take away) of a sacred or a hallowed character or office.
4. To divert from a sacred to a profane (disrespectful) use or purpose.
5. To treat with sacrilege (disrespectful or irreverent treatment); to profane.

1. A violator of the sacred character of a place or language.
2. The disrespectful or contemptuous treatment of that which is held to be sacred by others.

1. Blasphemous behavior or the act of depriving something of its sacred character.
2. Damage done to or showing no respect towards something holy or very much respected.

1. Extremely bad, or of very low quality: "He has execrable taste when it comes to clothes."
2. Deserving to be detested: "Her execrable behavior was disgusting."

Very bad: "He has always treated women execrably."

1. To feel loathing for someone or something.
2. To declare somebody or something to be loathsome (arousing intense dislike and disgust).
3. To curse or to put a curse on someone or something.
4. Etymology: from Latin, exsecratus, execratus, past participle of exsecrari, execrari, "to curse, to execrate, to detest"; from ex-,"out of, from" + sacare, "to set apart as sacred, to consecrate"; from the stem of sacer, "holy, sacred".

1. An appeal to some supernatural power to inflict evil on someone or some group.
2. Hate coupled with disgust.
3. Something that is cursed or loathed.
4. Etymology: from Latin execrationem, a noun of action from execrari, "to hate, to curse"; from ex-, "out" + sacrare, "to devote to holiness, to consecrate"; from sacer, "sacred".

[From] here [we receive] light and sacred draughts [libations].

Motto of Cambridge University, U.K. It is also translated as, "Hence light and the sacred draughts [of wisdom]."

According to the Queens' College Web site (one of the colleges associated with Cambridge University), "[From] here [we receive] light and sacred draughts. The ‘here' being the University (or the Alma Mater, nursing mother), and ‘light and sacred draughts' being metaphors for knowledge."

1. To beseech; to supplicate, to beg; to implore; to pray earnestly.
2. Etymology: from Latin obsecratus, obsecrare, "to beseech, to entreat on religious grounds)"; from ob-,"toward" and sacrare, "to make" or "to declare sacred"; from Latin sacer, "holy, sacred".

1. A figure of speech in which the orator implores the assistance of God or man.
2. The act of obsecrating or imploring; as, the obsecrations of the Litany, being those clauses beginning with "By."
3. Entreating solemnly; beseeching; supplicating.
4. Asking for something humbly or earnestly, as by praying.