The Collaborative International Dictionary
Holy \Ho"ly\, a. [Compar. Holier; superl. Holiest.] [OE. holi, hali, AS. h[=a]lig, fr. h[ae]l health, salvation, happiness, fr. h[=a]l whole, well; akin to OS. h?lag, D. & G. heilig, OHG. heilac, Dan. hellig, Sw. helig, Icel. heilagr. See Whole, and cf. Halibut, Halidom, Hallow, Hollyhock.]
Set apart to the service or worship of God; hallowed; sacred; reserved from profane or common use; holy vessels; a holy priesthood. ``Holy rites and solemn feasts.''
--Milton.-
Spiritually whole or sound; of unimpaired innocence and virtue; free from sinful affections; pure in heart; godly; pious; irreproachable; guiltless; acceptable to God. Now through her round of holy thought The Church our annual steps has brought. --Keble. Holy Alliance (Hist.), a league ostensibly for conserving religion, justice, and peace in Europe, but really for repressing popular tendencies toward constitutional government, entered into by Alexander I. of Russia, Francis I. of Austria, and Frederic William III. of Prussia, at Paris, on the 26th of September, 1815, and subsequently joined by all the sovereigns of Europe, except the pope and the king of England. Holy bark. See Cascara sagrada. Holy Communion. See Eucharist. Holy family (Art), a picture in which the infant Christ, his parents, and others of his family are represented. Holy Father, a title of the pope. Holy Ghost (Theol.), the third person of the Trinity; the Comforter; the Paraclete. Holy Grail. See Grail. Holy grass (Bot.), a sweet-scented grass ( Hierochloa borealis and Hierochloa alpina). In the north of Europe it was formerly strewed before church doors on saints' days; whence the name. It is common in the northern and western parts of the United States. Called also vanilla grass or Seneca grass. Holy Innocents' day, Childermas day. Holy Land, Palestine, the birthplace of Christianity. Holy office, the Inquisition. Holy of holies (Script.), the innermost apartment of the Jewish tabernacle or temple, where the ark was kept, and where no person entered, except the high priest once a year. Holy One.
The Supreme Being; -- so called by way of emphasis. `` The Holy One of Israel.''
--Is. xliii. 14.-
One separated to the service of God. Holy orders. See Order. Holy rood, the cross or crucifix, particularly one placed, in churches. over the entrance to the chancel. Holy rope, a plant, the hemp agrimony. Holy Saturday (Eccl.), the Saturday immediately preceding the festival of Easter; the vigil of Easter. Holy Spirit, same as Holy Ghost (above). Holy Spirit plant. See Dove plant. Holy thistle (Bot.), the blessed thistle. See under Thistle. Holy Thursday. (Eccl.)
(Episcopal Ch.) Ascension day.
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(R. C. Ch.) The Thursday in Holy Week; Maundy Thursday.
Holy war, a crusade; an expedition carried on by Christians against the Saracens in the Holy Land, in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, for the possession of the holy places.
Holy water (Gr. & R. C. Churches), water which has been blessed by the priest for sacred purposes.
Holy-water stoup, the stone stoup or font placed near the entrance of a church, as a receptacle for holy water.
Holy Week (Eccl.), the week before Easter, in which the passion of our Savior is commemorated.
Holy writ, the sacred Scriptures. `` Word of holy writ.''
--Wordsworth.
Wikipedia
[[Image:Holy Alliance.png|thumb|The founding countries of the Holy Alliance, against European boundaries as of 1840.
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The Holy Alliance (; , Svyashchennyy soyuz; also called the Grand Alliance) was a coalition created by the monarchist great powers of Russia, Austria and Prussia. It was created after the ultimate defeat of Napoleon at the behest of Tsar Alexander I of Russia and signed in Paris on 26 September 1815. The intention of the alliance was to restrain republicanism and secularism in Europe in the wake of the devastating French Revolutionary Wars, and the alliance nominally succeeded in this until the Crimean War (1853–1856). Otto von Bismarck managed to reunite the Holy Alliance after the unification of Germany, but the alliance again faltered by the 1880s over Austrian and Russian conflicts of interest with regard to the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire. By extension, the Alliance can be considered the most potent prevention against any other general wars on the continent of Europe between 1815 and 1914.
Usage examples of "holy alliance".
They even encouraged his plans for a Holy Alliance that he might be fully occupied while they were engaged upon the work at hand.
And what is more, we find at one and the same time quite contradictory views as to what is bad and what is good in history: some people regard giving a constitution to Poland and forming the Holy Alliance as praiseworthy in Alexander, while others regard it as blameworthy.
A Quadruple Alliance soon turned into a Triple Alliance of Russia, Prussia and Austria, which they preferred to call the Holy Alliance.
In Austria, for example--Austria, the leader and guardian of the Holy Alliance--Austria, which had no Reformation, no Revolution, no Kultur-kampf--Austria, in which the income of the Catholic Primate is $625,000 a year!
Spain was unable to suppress this revolt, it dragged on much as the United States War of Independence had dragged on, and at last the suggestion was made by Austria, in accordance with the spirit of the Holy Alliance, that the European monarch should assist Spain in this struggle.
This was a new species of holy alliance, but the ruse was by no means ill advised.