The Collaborative International Dictionary
Maundy Thursday \Maun"dy Thurs"day\ [OE. maunde a command, OF.
mand['e], L. mandatum, from mandare to command. See called
from the ancient custom of washing the feet of the poor on
this day, which was taken to be the fulfillment of the ``new
commandment,''
--John xiii. 5, 34.] (Eccl.)
The Thursday in Passion week, or next before Good Friday.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Thursday before Easter, mid-15c., from Middle English maunde "the Last Supper," also "ceremony of washing the feet," from Old French mandé, from Latin mandatum "commandment" (see mandate); said to be so called in reference to the opening words of the church service for this day, Mandatum novum do vobis "A new commandment I give unto you" (John xiii:34), words supposedly spoken by Jesus to the Apostles after washing their feet at the Last Supper.
Wikipedia
Maundy Thursday (also known as Holy Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Great and Holy Thursday, Sheer Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries) is the Christian holy day falling on the Thursday before Easter. It commemorates the Maundy and Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles as described in the Canonical gospels. It is the fifth day of Holy Week, and is preceded by Holy Wednesday and followed by Good Friday.
The date is always between 19 March and 22 April inclusive, but these dates fall on different days depending on whether the Gregorian or Julian calendar is used liturgically. Eastern churches generally use the Julian calendar, and so celebrate this feast throughout the 21st century between 1 April and 5 May in the more commonly used Gregorian calendar. The liturgy held on the evening of Maundy Thursday initiates the Easter Triduum, the period which commemorates the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ; this period includes Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and ends on the evening of Easter. The Mass or service of worship is normally celebrated in the evening, when Friday begins according to Jewish tradition, as, according to the three Synoptic Gospels, the Last Supper was held on the feast of Passover; according to the Gospel of John, however, Jesus had his last supper on Nisan 14, the night before the first night of Passover.
Maundy Thursday (; lit. Our Happy Time) is a 2006 South Korean film directed by Song Hae-sung based on a bestselling novel by Gong Ji-young. Starring Kang Dong-won and Lee Na-young, the film is about a convicted murderer awaiting execution, and the bond he forms with a suicidal young woman who starts visiting him in jail every Thursday.
With 3,132,320 admissions, Maundy Thursday was the seventh most popular Korean film of 2006.
Usage examples of "maundy thursday".
But always on Maundy Thursday morning, whether consciously or not, he would come to church when the popes were still there, and receive Communion.
Every Maundy Thursday, the Vigil of Prayer and Quiet is kept from nine o'clock that evening until nine o'clock in the morning of Good Friday.
I don't see that any of these represented a significant advance over old faves like Maundy Thursday, but perhaps I am not taking a sufficiently Gallic view of the situation.