Serbonian

[ ser-boh-nee-uh n ]

/ sərˈboʊ ni ən /

adjective

of, relating to, or designating the large marshy tract of land in the northern part of ancient Egypt in which entire armies are said to have been swallowed up.

Origin of Serbonian

1660–70; < Greek Serbōní(s) ( límnē) Serbonian (marsh) + -an

Example sentences from the Web for serbonian

In "the Serbonian bog" of this base oligarchy they are all absorbed, sunk, and lost forever.

The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. III. (of 12) |Edmund Burke
An arctic night has dropped down upon the south; and in our dense blindness we know not in what direction lies the Serbonian bog.

The Broken Sword |Dennison Worthington
Many a passage in it will seem to you at first a worse than Serbonian bog—a cave of impenetrable and undistinguishable darkness.

In the School-Room |John S. Hart
It is a Serbonian bog, not indeed where armies whole have sunk, but only Members of Congress.

Charles Sumner; His Complete Works, Volume VIII (of 20) |Charles Sumner

He finds his age or country stuck in some Serbonian bog of iniquity.

William Lloyd Garrison |Archibald H. Grimke

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

Serbonian

adjective

Origin of Serbonian

Example sentences from the Web for serbonian