Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Aceldama \A*cel"da*ma\, n. [Gr. ?, fr. Syr. [=o]k[=e]l dam[=o]
   the field of blood.]
   The potter's field, said to have lain south of Jerusalem,
   purchased with the bribe which Judas took for betraying his
   Master, and therefore called the field of blood. Fig.: A
   field of bloodshed.

         The system of warfare . . . which had already converted
         immense tracts into one universal aceldama. --De
                                                  Quincey.