benediction
See also: bénédiction
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin benedictio, benedictionis, from benedictus (“blessed; well spoken of”). Doublet of benison.
Noun
benediction (countable and uncountable, plural benedictions)
- A short invocation for help, blessing and guidance from God, said on behalf of another person or persons (sometimes at the end of a church worship service).
- to pronounce / give / say the benediction; the nuptial benediction; a parting benediction
- Synonym: blessing
- c. 1605 William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act IV, Scene 7,[1]
- O, look upon me, sir,
- And hold your hands in benediction o’er me.
- 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 7, lines 1281-1282,[2]
- So saying, he [the angel] arose; whom Adam thus
- Follow’d with benediction.
- 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, London: for the author, Volume 4, Letter 50, p. 290,[3]
- My pen (its last scrawl a benediction on my beloved) dropt from my fingers;
- 1876, George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, Book 4, Chapter 34,[4]
- Cohen kept on his own hat, and took no notice of the visitor, but stood still while the two children went up to him and clasped his knees: then he laid his hands on each in turn and uttered his Hebrew benediction; whereupon the wife, who had lately taken baby from the cradle, brought it up to her husband and held it under his outstretched hands, to be blessed in its sleep.
- 1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Penguin, 1992, Part 2, Chapter 6, p. 537,[5]
- Long brahminical hairs sprouted out of his ears, and he drew further attention to himself by closing his eyes, neatly shaking away tears, putting a hand on Owad’s head and speaking a Hindi benediction.
- In the Anglican church, the ceremony used to institute an abbot, analogous to the consecration of a bishop.
- 1726, John Ayliffe, Parergon juris canonici anglicani: or, A commentary, by way of supplement to the canons and constitutions of the Church of England, London: for the author, “Of Abbots, Priors, Abbies, Priories, &c.,” p. 13,[6]
- What Consecration is to a Bishop, that Benediction is to an Abbot; but in a different way: For a Bishop is not properly such till Consecration; but an Abbot being elected and confirm’d, is properly such before Benediction.
- 1726, John Ayliffe, Parergon juris canonici anglicani: or, A commentary, by way of supplement to the canons and constitutions of the Church of England, London: for the author, “Of Abbots, Priors, Abbies, Priories, &c.,” p. 13,[6]
- A Roman Catholic rite by which bells, banners, candles, etc., are blessed with holy water and formally dedicated to God.
- 1945, Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited, London: Chapman & Hall, 1949, Book 1, Chapter 5, p. 98,[7]
- […] [he] later liked to attend benediction in the chapel at Brideshead and see the ladies of the family with their necks arched in devotion under their black lace mantillas;
- 1945, Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited, London: Chapman & Hall, 1949, Book 1, Chapter 5, p. 98,[7]
- Help, good fortune or reward from God or another supernatural source.
- c. 1610 William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale, Act 14, Scene 4,[8]
- […] they throng who should buy first, as if my trinkets had been hallowed and brought a benediction to the buyer:
- 1847, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, Part I,[9]
- Homeward serenely she walked with God’s benediction upon her.
- c. 1610 William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale, Act 14, Scene 4,[8]
Antonyms
Related terms
Translations
a short invocation for divine help, blessing and guidance, usually after a church worship service
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