Meaning

noun a tyrannical power to be propitiated by human subservience or sacrifice; ; - Norman Douglas

noun god of the Canaanites and Phoenicians to whom parents sacrificed their children

noun any lizard of the genus Moloch

originFrom the Proto-Semitic *malk- (“king”). The figurative sense derives from the Old Testament, in which it is alleged that the cult of Moloch involved the sacrifice of human children.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0