The Collaborative International Dictionary
auto-da-fe \auto-da-fe\, ||Auto-da-f'e \Au"to-da-f['e]"\, n.; pl. Autos-da-f['e]. [Pg., act of the faith; auto act, fr. L. actus + da of the + f['e] faith, fr. L. fides.]
A judgment of the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal condemning or acquitting persons accused of religious offenses.
An execution of such sentence, by the civil power, esp. the burning of a heretic. It was usually held on Sunday, and was made a great public solemnity by impressive forms and ceremonies.
A session of the court of Inquisition. [1913 Webster] ||
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1723, "sentence passed by the Inquisition" (plural autos-da-fé), from Portuguese auto-da-fé "judicial sentence, act of the faith," especially the public burning of a heretic, from Latin actus de fide, literally "act of faith." Although the Spanish Inquisition is better-known today, there also was one in Portugal.
Wiktionary
n. (alternative form of auto da fe English)
n. (alternative spelling of auto da fe English)
WordNet
n. the burning to death of heretics (as during the Spanish Inquisition)
[also: autos-da-fe (pl)]
Wikipedia
"Auto-da-Fé" is a short story by Roger Zelazny from Harlan Ellison's science fiction anthology Dangerous Visions. The plot concerns a bullfight where the bull has been replaced by a car-fight, and the bullfighter by "mechadors" who combats a robotized Chevrolet or Pontiac. It has been reprinted at least 40 times, in at least 4 languages.
The title is a play on words involving the phrases auto-da-fé and automobile.
Auto da Fé (original title Die Blendung, "The Blinding") is a 1935 novel by Elias Canetti; the title of the English translation (by C. V. Wedgwood, 1946) refers to the burning of heretics by the Inquisition.
An auto-da-fé (or auto da fé or auto de fe) is a Roman Catholic church ritual which became associated with its use during the Spanish Inquisition.
Auto-da-fé may also refer to:
- Auto Da Fe, rock climbing route at Mount Arapiles in Victoria, Australia
An auto-da-fé or auto-de-fé (from Portuguese auto da fé, meaning "act of faith") was the ritual of public penance of condemned heretics and apostates that took place when the Spanish Inquisition, Portuguese Inquisition or the Mexican Inquisition had decided their punishment, followed by the execution by the civil authorities of the sentences imposed.
The most extreme punishment imposed on those convicted was execution by burning. In popular usage, the term auto-da-fé, the act of public penance, came to mean the burning at the stake.
Auto-da-Fé is a one-act 1941 play by Tennessee Williams. The plot concerns a young postal worker, Eloi, whose sexuality is repressed by a rigidly moralistic mother.
Usage examples of "auto-da-fe".
The matter was a serious one, and an auto-da-fe was very possible, as it came under the jurisdiction of the Holy Office--a kind of wild beast, with which it is not good to quarrel.
If I confessed to religious crimes, I would find myself at an auto-da-fé stake with a fire roaring around me.
And while all in the cell were to be punished at the auto-da-fé, none were to die at the stake.
I shared my corner of the wagon bed with a sambenito from the auto-da-fé who had gotten a hundred lashes and two years at the mines for sodomy.