PANCRATIUM • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Pancratium

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noun

Pancratium n.

(Gr. Antiq.) An athletic contest involving both boxing and wrestling.

(Bot.) A genus of Old World amaryllideous bulbous plants, having a funnel-shaped perianth with six narrow spreading lobes. The American species are now placed in the related genus Hymenocallis.

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Etymology of 'Pancratium'

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Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Pancratium" Quotes from Famous Books

... exercises were introduced in the eighth century before Christ. Then followed boxing. This was a brutal and dangerous exercise, the combatants' hands being bound with heavy leather thongs which were made more rigid by pieces of metal. The four-horse chariot-race came later; afterwards the pancratium (wrestling and boxing, without the leaded thongs); boys' races and wrestling and boxing matches; foot-races in a full suit of armor; and in the fifth century, two-horse chariot-races. Nero, in the year 68 A.D., introduced musical contests, and ...

— Historic Tales, vol 10 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality • Charles Morris

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