Côr'ban, n.
n. [Heb. korbān, Ar. kurbān, offering, sacrifice, Russ. korwān, church-box, treasury.]
Sense 1. An alms-basket; a vessel to receive gifts of charity; a treasury of the church, where offerings are deposited.
Sense 2. (Jewish Antiq.) An offering, sacrifice, or oblation of any kind, devoted to God; an interdiction by vow, especially one by which a person bound himself not to give to another, or to receive from him, some particular object, as of food, clothing, shelter, or assistance of any kind whatever.
☞ “The thing thus interdicted was considered as corban, and the form of interdiction was virtually to this effect: ‘I forbid myself to touch, or be concerned in any way with, the thing forbidden, as if it were devoted by law;’ i. e., ‘let it be corban.’” Dr. Wm. Smith.
Sense 3. (Mohammedan Religion.) A ceremony performed at the foot of Mount Arafat, in Arabia, near Mecca. It consists in killing a number of sheep, and distributing them among the poor.