CORBAN, noun [Latin G., a wicker basket.]

1. In Jewish antiquity, an offering which had life; an animal offered to God; in opposition to the mincha, which was an offering without life.

It is a gift, corban by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; that is, I have devoted that to God which you ask of me, and it is no longer mine to give.

2. An alms-basket; a vessel to receive gifts of charity; a gift; an alms; a treasury of the church, where offerings are deposited.

3. Among Mohammedans, a ceremony performed at the foot of mount Arrarat in Arabia, near Mecca. It consists in killing the number of sheep, and distributing them among the poor.