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
Holy Saturday , the Saturday of Holy Week, also known as the Great Sabbath, Black Saturday, or Easter Eve, and called "Joyous Saturday" or "the Saturday of Light" among Coptic Christians, is the day after Good Friday. It is the day before Easter and the last day of Holy Week in which Christians prepare for Easter. It commemorates the day that Jesus Christ's body lay in the tomb and the Harrowing of Hell.
Holy Saturday is sometimes referred to as Easter Saturday. Some authorities consider that usage incorrect, holding that the term is only correctly applied to the Saturday in Easter Week. However, using the term "Easter Saturday" to refer to the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is used in legislation in the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland, and is in common use in Australia, including by government agencies.
On this day, the Blessed Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Sorrows is assigned the title Our Lady of Solitude, referring to her solace and grief at the death of her son Jesus.
Usage examples of "holy saturday".
At the university, one Holy Saturday, he'd tried to apply a jackass cure to uncertainty: he went into the toilet of a bar, perfectly sober, threw some gunpowder on a chancre, and lighted it.
The evening of Holy Saturday I spent, as every honest monk must, in mortifications, excessive, I think, because the next morning I felt exhausted, as if I had passed the night, God forgive me even the very thought, amid libations and fornications.
The celebrations of Holy Saturday were over, Easter Season had officially begun.
And when this latest series of games is done, come Holy Saturday, he'll assume this old body of mine, unless I've stopped him somehow.
It was Holy Saturday and the Truce of God was in effect, yet prudence and courtesy required that I be fully armed, covered head to toe with chain mail and astride my war-horse, Witchfire.
Weak in the tobacconist-father (his pan scraped on Holy Saturday, a drunken midnight Mass at Christmas -- no more), it had died in the poet-son, thanks to that stepmother.
It was Holy Saturday and the Truce of God was in effect, yet prudence and courtesy required that I be fully armed, covered head to toe with chain mail and astride my warhorse, Witchfire.
And, if it had been sealed beyond the metal door for so many centuries, there was small reason, Francis told himself, to fear that it might come bursting through the hatch before Holy Saturday.
And as a coward, disguised as one of the men of the crusade, I witnessed the capture of Dolcino and Margaret, when on Holy Saturday they were taken in the castle of Bugello.