The Collaborative International Dictionary
Thursday \Thurs"day\, n. [OE. [thorn]ursdei, [thorn]orsday, from the Scand. name Thor + E. day. Icel. [thorn][=o]rr Thor, the god of thunder, is akin to AS. [thorn]unor thunder; D. Donderdag Thursday, G. Donnerstag, Icel. [thorn][=o]rsdagr, Sw. & Dan. Torsdag. [root]52. See Thor, Thunder, and Day.] The fifth day of the week, following Wednesday and preceding Friday.
Holy Thursday. See under Holy.
Ascension \As*cen"sion\, n. [F. ascension, L. ascensio, fr. ascendere. See Ascend.]
The act of ascending; a rising; ascent.
Specifically: The visible ascent of our Savior on the fortieth day after his resurrection. (
--Acts i. 9.) Also, Ascension Day.-
An ascending or arising, as in distillation; also that which arises, as from distillation.
Vaporous ascensions from the stomach.
--Sir T. Browne.Ascension Day, the Thursday but one before Whitsuntide, the day on which commemorated our Savior's ascension into heaven after his resurrection; -- called also Holy Thursday.
Right ascension (Astron.), that degree of the equinoctial, counted from the beginning of Aries, which rises with a star, or other celestial body, in a right sphere; or the arc of the equator intercepted between the first point of Aries and that point of the equator that comes to the meridian with the star; -- expressed either in degrees or in time.
Oblique ascension (Astron.), an arc of the equator, intercepted between the first point of Aries and that point of the equator which rises together with a star, in an oblique sphere; or the arc of the equator intercepted between the first point of Aries and that point of the equator that comes to the horizon with a star. It is little used in modern astronomy.
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 Thursday" is a poem by William Blake, first published in Songs of Innocence and Experience in 1794. This poem, unlike its companion poem in " Songs of Innocence" (1789), focuses more on society as a whole than on the ceremony held in London.
Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday is the traditional observance day of the Last Supper, i.e., the Thursday falling before Easter.
Holy Thursday may also refer to:
- Feast of the Ascension which falls on a Thursday 40 days after Easter, is sometimes called "Holy Thursday"
- "Holy Thursday" (Songs of Experience), a poem by William Blake in Songs of Experience
- "Holy Thursday" (Songs of Innocence), a poem by William Blake in Songs of Innocence
Holy Thursday is a poem by William Blake, from his 1789 book of poems Songs of Innocence. (There is also a Holy Thursday poem in Songs of Experience, which contrasts with this song.)
The poem depicts a ceremony held on Ascension Day, which in England was then called Holy Thursday, a name now generally applied to what is also called Maundy Thursday: six thousand orphans of London's charity schools, scrubbed clean and dressed in the coats of distinctive colours, are marched two by two to Saint Paul's Cathedral, under the control of their beadles, and sing in the cathedral.
The children in their colourful dresses are compared to flowers and their procession toward the church as a river. Their singing on the day that commemorated the Ascension of Jesus is depicted as raising them above their old, lifeless guardians, who remain at a lower level.
The bleak reality of the orphans' lives is depicted in the contrasting poem, Holy Thursday (Songs of Experience).
Usage examples of "holy thursday".
In over two thousand closely printed pages, it managed to include all the festal days, the Hours of the monastic Office, the complex and elaborate rites once performed between Holy Thursday and Easter Sunday, the psalms and their intonations, a wealth of antiphons, Glorias, Credos, Introits, Graduals, smatterings of Ambrosian and even Gallican chant, and much more.
While Mama was carrying me out of the Sacred Heart, I counted on my fingers: Today is Monday, tomorrow is Tuesday, then Wednesday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and then it will be all up with that character who can't even drum, who won't even give me the pleasure of a little broken glass, who resembles me but is false.
If I, now freed, could cross that line, I would be in my Holy Thursday, for this scapular that you see on my back is the bond that requires my sun to accompany me like my shadow, and guarantee that wherever I go, all time has the duration of mine.
On the night of April 11, 1974, after attending the Mass of Holy Thursday, My Lord of the Vexin ascended the helical stairway that wound itself around the inside of the Red Tower, followed by two trusted sergeants of the Count's Own Guard -- who were, in turn, followed by a four-man squad of ordinary guardsmen.
Peter's Basilica during the holiest moments of Holy Thursday's High Mass.
On Holy Thursday, while Paschal officiated before the altar, he was interrupted by the clamors of the multitude, who imperiously demanded the confirmation of a favorite magistrate.
On Holy Thursday the lambs had been killed and hung, the eggs had been painted red and polished with olive oil, and he had nearly succumbed to the traditional lentil soup.
On Holy Thursday, 1226, St Anthony of Padua was said to have appeared in two places simultaneously.