24 December 2014

ossuary

[osh-oo-er-ee, os-]

noun, plural ossuaries.
1. a place or receptacle for the bones of the dead.

Also, ossuarium.

Origin
Late Latin
1650-1660; < Late Latin ossuārium, variant of ossārium, equivalent to oss- (stem of os) bone + -ārium -ary

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for ossuary
– Their finds included an ossuary, that is, a large pit with human remains.

Anagram

as yours
says our
a rosy us

Today’s aphorism

When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?

– Eleanor Roosevelt

On this day

24 December 1865 – Ku Klux Klan formed by a group of confederate veterans who are opposed to civil rights for African-Americans.

24 December 1979 – The Soviet Army, comprised of 100,000 troops, invades Afghanistan in response to Afghan insurgents (armed by the United States) who had been attacking Soviet troops. The occupation lasts for 10 years and results in the deaths of between 600,000 and 2,000,000 Afghan civilians, as well as 6,000,000 refugees who fled to Pakistan and Iran. The Soviets withdrew in 1989. The cost of the Afghan occupation is a significant factor that led to the economic collapse of the Soviet Union. During the Soviet occupation, the United States funded Afghan resistance in the form of the Mujahideen and other militant Islamic groups, out of whom emerged Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The real victims in this war were the Afghan people, who continue to suffer and to comprise a significant portion of global refugee numbers because of the involvement of the USSR and the USA during this period.