Burnt offering

From earliest times, sacrifices have been made to religious deities in the form of ritual burning of animals and other possessions as an act of reverence or worship. There are several mentions of burnt offerings in the Bible, notably Genesis 22:8, “God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering” and Hosea 6: 6, “For I desired … the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” From the mid-17th century, the expression acquired a figurative use in the sense of forgoing something for some greater purpose. In addition, it is sometimes used in a jocular or ironic sense for over-cooked food.