potter's field

potter's field

A place where the indigent or the unknown are buried. A reference to the Bible, "So they conferred together and bought the potter's field with it as a burial place for foreigners" (Matthew 27:7). Primarily heard in US. The work was so grueling that a great number of immigrant laborers who built the railroads across this country ended up in some potter's field or another before the job was complete.
See also: field
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • the age of miracles is past
  • a golden calf
  • golden calf
  • incline
  • incline (one's) ear
  • incline your ear
  • biblical
  • (but) not in the biblical sense
  • from Dan to Beersheba
  • potter's clay
References in periodicals archive
Thus, a social context that, perhaps unintentionally, promotes financial depletion at death increases the challenge facing a social worker seeking out resources to avoid a client's anonymous burial in a local potter's field, the lowest common denominator of indigent burial options funded out of the public purse.
The term "potter's field" derives from a New Testament Bible story (Matthew 27:3-10) in which a plot of land owned by a potter outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem is purchased "as a burial place for foreigners" with the tainted 30 pieces of silver that Judas received (and returned) for betraying Jesus (New York City Department of Corrections, 1967).
He taught philosophy and dramatic arts at the University of North Carolina and became known for plays set for the most part in North Carolina: The Lord's Will and Other Plays (1925); Lonesome Road: Six Plays for Negro Theater (1926); The Field God and <IR> IN ABRAHAM'S BOSOM </IR> , both of which appeared on Broadway in 1927, the latter winning the Pulitzer Prize; <IR> THE HOUSE OF CONNELLY AND OTHER PLAYS </IR> (1931); Roll Sweet Chariot (Potter's Field, 1934); <IR> NATIVE SON </IR> (with <IR> RICHARD WRIGHT </IR> , 1941); and Peer Gynt (an American version, 1951).
A study of the 24,124 deaths recorded in the burial registers of the Potter's Field Cemetery and the Necropolis from 1850 to 1899, indicates that Toronto, like other nineteenth-century cities, experienced very high mortality.
L'examen des 24 124 deces consignes dans les registres des cimetieres Potter's Field et Necropolis de 1850 a 1899 montre que le taux de mortalite n'etait pas moins eleve a Toronto que dans les autres villes due XIX siecle.
There is a competition to win one of 15 sets of best-selling novels, including Love Over Scotland, by Alexander McCall Smith, and From Potter's Field, by Patricia Cornwell.
The firm was cited for its efforts in the Secaucus Potter's Field disinterment/re-interment project, which is believed to be the largest disinterment ever undertaken under a single contract and possibly the largest disinterment of a potter's field in the nation.
18, I had not considered that other mothers might have stood with Mary on Golgotha, or in the potter's field, grieving their shattered children on the day Jesus died.
Ellard, Morrow, and Fisher all revealed their fear of being buried in a potter's field. Such fears were widely shared by working-class youth, as is evident in this little street rhyme from Milwaukee in the 1880s: "Rattle his bones over the stones.
As he lay on his deathbed Charity expressed his fear of potter's field. The New York World and Steve Brodie, a famous ex-newsboy, spared him that fate by treating him to a "first class funeral." Charity's body was laid in state at the lodging house,
Weeks ago, in an interview withthe Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, he declared, "The coup was justified by the human rights record of Aristide." Asked what he had done as Prime Minister to halt the massive human rights violations that followed the overflow, Honorat huffed, "I don't have my files here." But he claimed supporters of the deposed President had exhumed cadavers from the potter's field of Portau-Prince, sprayed the bodies with bullets and fresh animal blood, and then dragged out the corpses to stain the military's reputation.
The previous evening I'd withstood the freezing temperatures to play host at a concert in Potter's Field Park to celebrate the launch of China In London season.
About 80 people, each carrying a cross marked no olvidado (not forgotten) participated in a Holy Week procession and blessing at a cemetery, a "potter's field," in this farming community.
It progressed to a potter's field, a military arsenal and parade ground, a reformatory, and after the House of Refuge for the Society for the Protection of Juvenile Delinquents burned down in 1839, the city gradually turned it into a park, which was opened to the public in 1847 and was named for President James Madison, who lived in New York for a short time on Cherry Street.
But Calv wont be laid back when he DJ's a disco funk set with Little Boots at Nokia Skate Almighty, a free outdoor roller disco at Potter's Fields, London from August 5-9.