dolmen

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. See portal tomb.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A structure consisting of one large unhewn stone restingontwo or more unhewn stones placed erect in the earth: a term also frequently used as synonymous with cromlech. The name is sometimes given also to structures where several blocks are raised upon pillars so as to form a sort of gallery. The most remarkable monument of this kind is probably that known as the Pierre Couverte, near Saumur, in France. It is 64 feet long, 14 feet wide, and about 6 feet high, and consists of four upright stones on each side, one at each end, and four on the top. The great stone of the dolmen represented in the accompanying cut is 33 feet long, 14½ feet deep, and 18½ feet across; it is calculated to weigh 750 tons, and is poised on the points of two natural rocks. It is now generally believed that dolmens were sepulchers, although afterward they may have been used as altars. They are often present within stone circles. The dolmen was probably a copy of a primitive rude dwelling, and may sometimes have been the actual structure in which the savage sheltered himself, converted afterward into his tomb. In several cases one of the stones is pierced with a hole. This is supposed to have been for the purpose of introducing food to the dead. Conclusions in regard to the original identity of various races have been based on the similarity of such structures in various parts of the world, as in Hindustan, Circassia, Algeria, and Europe; but too much importance may be attached to this, as the inclosed dolmen is simply the structure which savages of a very low type, of whatever race, would naturally erect for shelter. See cromlech and menhir.

Wiktionary

1. n. a prehistoric megalithic tomb consisting of a capstone supported by two or more upright stones, most having originally been covered with earth or smaller stones to form a barrow.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A cromlech. See cromlech.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a prehistoric megalithic tomb typically having two large upright stones and a capstone