A‐cel″da‐ma (�), n. [Gr. �, fr. Syr. ōkēl damō 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.