MOLOCH
[noun]
1. a system or method that requires frightful sacrifice.
2. something possessing the power to exact severe sacrifice.
3. in the Bible, the god of the Canaanites and Phoenicians to whom children were sacrificed.
4. a lizard (Moloch horridus) of the deserts and plains of central and southern Australia, having a head and back covered with large spiny scales.
Etymology: Late Latin < Greek Móloch < Hebrew Mōlekh, alternative of melekh – king.