Crossword clues for dolmen
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Kistvaen \Kist"vaen\ (k[i^]st"v[=a]n), n. [W. cist-faen.] (Arch[ae]ol.) A Celtic monument, commonly known as a dolmen.
dolmen \dol"men\ (d[o^]l"m[e^]n), n. [Armor. taol, tol, table + mean, maen, men, stone: cf. F. dolmen.] A cromlech. See Cromlech. [Written also tolmen.]
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1859, from French dolmin applied 1796 by French general and antiquarian Théophile Malo Corret de La Tour d'Auvergne (1743-1800), perhaps from Cornish tolmen "enormous stone slab set up on supporting points," such that a man may walk under it, literally "hole of stone," from Celtic men "stone."\n
\nSome suggest the first element may be Breton taol "table," a loan-word from Latin tabula "board, plank," but the Breton form of this compound would be taolvean. "There is reason to think that this [tolmen] is the word inexactly reproduced by Latour d'Auvergne as dolmin, and misapplied by him and succeeding French archaeologists to the cromlech" [OED]. See cromlech, which is properly an upright flat stone, often arranged as one of a circle.
Wiktionary
n. a prehistoric megalithic tomb consisting of a capstone supported by two or more upright stones, most having originally been covered with earth or smaller stones to form a barrow.
WordNet
n. a prehistoric megalith typically having two upright stones and a capstone [syn: cromlech]
Wikipedia
A dolmen is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more vertical megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone ("table"), although there are also more complex variants. Most date from the early Neolithic (40003000 BC). Dolmens were typically covered with earth or smaller stones to form a tumulus. In many instances, that covering has weathered away, leaving only the stone "skeleton" of the burial mound intact.
It remains unclear when, why, and by whom the earliest dolmens were made. The oldest known dolmens are in Western Europe, where they were set in place around 7,000 years ago. Archaeologists still do not know who erected these dolmens, which makes it difficult to know why they did it. They are generally all regarded as tombs or burial chambers, despite the absence of clear evidence for this. Human remains, sometimes accompanied by artifacts, have been found in or close to the dolmens which could be scientifically dated using radiocarbon dating. However, it has been impossible to prove that these remains date from the time when the stones were originally set in place.
Dolmen is a French TV miniseries, consisting of six 90 minutes-long episodes, and starring Ingrid Chauvin. It was written by Nicole Jamet and Marie-Anne Le Pezennec, and broadcast for the first time between June 13 and July 18, 2005 on TF1.
Dolmen may refer to:
- Dolmen, a type of megalithic tomb, common in Europe
- Dolmen (TV miniseries), a French TV miniseries
- The Dolmen, a UK band
Usage examples of "dolmen".
In the middle of this picture stood the Mardian dolmen, unencumbered now, glinting with frost as if, incongruously, it had been tinselled for the occasion.
The Hobby-Horse, who was behind the dolmen, gave a shrill squeak and went off.
Doctor, Carey had ordered the stragglers off the place and had then, and not till then, walked round the dolmen and seen what lay on the ground beyond it.
The swept-up snow, running away into dirty water, was much trampled, the courtyard itself was greasy and the Mardian dolmen a lump of wet rock standing on two other lumps.
Carey, Thompson, Bailey and the policeman was looking at the dolmen, glanced up at his chief.
Get a shot of the whole dolmen, will you, Thompson, and some details of the top surface.
At the end farthest from the dolmen there was a dark viscous patch, about four inches in diameter, overlying a little drift of gravel.
A further patch, larger, lay about a foot from it, nearer the dolmen and still in the hollow.
None of the five sons had, at any stage of their performance, gone behind the dolmen to the spot where their father lay hidden.
Otterly here and all the other observers we have consulted say that, as a matter of fact, you went up to the dolmen at the moment of climax and stood motionless behind it.
Everybody else agrees about where you were at the moment of the climax: behind the dolmen, they tell us, standing stock still.
I think I went fairly close to the dolmen that time because I seem to remember it between them and me.
Their light quivered over the dolmen and dramatized the attentive faces of the onlookers.
Alleyn back, through the archway, past the dolmen and the flaring torches and across the arena.
The Fool was in his place behind the dolmen, the hermaphrodite and the horse stood like crazy acolytes to left and right of the stone.