What is "mystery"

Mystery \Mys"ter*y\, n.; pl. Mysteries. [OE. mistere, OF. mestier, F. m['e]tier, L. ministerium. See Ministry.]

1. A trade; a handicraft; hence, any business with which one is usually occupied.

   Fie upon him, he will discredit our mystery.
   --Shak.

   And that which is the noblest mystery Brings to reproach and common infamy.
   --Spenser.

2. A dramatic representation of a Scriptural subject, often some event in the life of Christ; a dramatic composition of this character; as, the Chester Mysteries, consisting of dramas acted by various craft associations in that city in the early part of the 14th century.

   ``Mystery plays,'' so called because acted by craftsmen.
   --Skeat.

Mystery \Mys"ter*y\ (m[i^]s"t[~e]r*[y^]), n.; pl. Mysteries (m[i^]s"t[~e]r*[i^]z). [L. mysterium, Gr. mysth`rion, fr. my`sths one initiated in mysteries; cf. myei^n to initiate into the mysteries, fr. my`ein to shut the eyes. Cf. Mute, a.]

1. A profound secret; something wholly unknown, or something kept cautiously concealed, and therefore exciting curiosity or wonder; something which has not been or can not be explained; hence, specifically, that which is beyond human comprehension.

   We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery.
   --1 Cor. ii. 7.

   If God should please to reveal unto us this great mystery of the Trinity, or some other mysteries in our holy religion, we should not be able to understand them, unless he would bestow on us some new faculties of the mind.
   --Swift.

2. A kind of secret religious celebration, to which none were admitted except those who had been initiated by certain preparatory ceremonies; -- usually plural; as, the Eleusinian mysteries.

3. pl. The consecrated elements in the eucharist.

4. Anything artfully made difficult; an enigma.

early 14c., in a theological sense, "religious truth via divine revelation, hidden spiritual significance, mystical truth," from Anglo-French *misterie, Old French mistere "secret, mystery, hidden meaning" (Modern French mystère), from Latin mysterium "secret rite, secret worship; a secret thing," from Greek mysterion (usually in plural mysteria) "secret rite or doctrine," from mystes "one who has been initiated," from myein "to close, shut" (see mute (adj.)); perhaps referring to the lips (in secrecy) or to the eyes (only initiates were allowed to see the sacred rites).\n

\nThe Greek word was used in Septuagint for "secret counsel of God," translated in Vulgate as sacramentum. Non-theological use in English, "a hidden or secret thing," is from late 14c. In reference to the ancient rites of Greece, Egypt, etc. it is attested from 1640s. Meaning "detective story" first recorded in English 1908.

"handicraft, trade, art" (archaic), late 14c., from Medieval Latin misterium, alteration of Latin ministerium "service, occupation, office, ministry" (see ministry), influenced in form by Medieval Latin mysterium (see mystery (n.1)) and in sense by maistrie "mastery." Now only in mystery play, in reference to the medieval performances, which often were staged by members of craft guilds. The two senses of mystery formed a common pun in (secular) Tudor theater.

n. Something secret or unexplainable; an unknown.

1. n. something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained; "how it got out is a mystery"; "it remains one of nature's secrets" [syn: enigma, secret, closed book]

2. a story about a crime (usually murder) presented as a novel or play or movie [syn: mystery story, whodunit]

Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to:

"Mystery" is a song by alternative rock group Live, which was released as the second single from their album, Songs from Black Mountain (2006). The single was not released for commercial purchase.

On June 7, 2006, the band performed a duet of "Mystery" with Chris Daughtry on the American Idol season 5 finale. This version was released via Live's official website.

The ''' Mystery ''' is a Chesapeake Bay log canoe, built in 1932, by Harry Sinclair in Oxford, Maryland. She measures 34'-7" long, has a beam of 8'-8" and has a centerboard. She is noted for her very tall masts, is privately owned, and races under No. 8. She is one of the last 22 surviving traditional Chesapeake Bay racing log canoes that carry on a tradition of racing on the Eastern Shore of Maryland that has existed since the 1840s. She is located at Kingstown, Queen Anne's County, Maryland.

She was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Mystery is a 1990 novel by American author Peter Straub, and is the second installment in Straub's loosely connected "Blue Rose Trilogy". The novel falls into the genre of crime fiction, and was preceded by Koko and followed by The Throat. The book was published by Dutton, won the 1993 Bram Stoker Award and was a 1994 WFA nominee

Mystery is the eponymous debut EP by the Canadian rock band Mystery, released in 1992. Their shortest recording so far, it contains only 5 tracks. This album is also Mystery's only record that was not released by Unicorn Digital, and is currently their only recording that is out of print, with only 500 copies having been printed.

Mystery ( Chinese: 秘术) is a 2014 Chinese suspense thriller adventure film directed by Wu Bing. It was released on November 14, 2014.

Mystery (alternatively Riddle) is the translated title of a 1994 Mandarin album 迷 recorded by Chinese singer Faye Wong as 'Wong Ching Man' when she was based in Hong Kong.

Although she had included a few Mandarin Chinese songs in her 1993 albums No Regrets and 100,000 Whys, Mystery was her first album recorded entirely in Mandarin rather than the Hong Kong majority dialect of Cantonese. The first track "I'm Willing" (or "I Do") was an instant hit single, and the album brought Wong to fame across the region of East Asia. The track "Cold War" is a cover of Tori Amos's " Silent All These Years"; Wong had already scored a hit with her Cantonese version of this song, which had been included in her 1993 album 100,000 Whys.

Despite the inclusion of Mandarin versions of that and other Cantonese songs, Mystery was a huge hit, selling over 800,000 in Taiwan alone.

Mystery (often stylized as MYSTERY) is a Canadian rock band formed in 1986 by multi-instrumentalist Michel St-Père. The band released their debut EP in 1992 with Raymond and Gary Savoie on lead vocals, followed by their first album Theatre of the Mind in 1996 and Destiny? in 1998, both with Gary on lead vocals. In 2007 the band released their third album Beneath the Veil of Winter's Face with singer Benoît David who would record two more studio albums with the band: One Among the Living in 2010 and The World is a Game in 2012. On November 1, 2015 the band released their sixth album Delusion Rain with current singer Jean Pageau.

Mystery's current line-up is Michel St-Père, singer Jean Pageau, keyboardist Benoît Dupuis, bassist François Fournier, guitarist Sylvain Moineau and drummer Jean-Sébastien Goyette.

Mystery is a 2012 Chinese drama film directed by Lou Ye. This is Lou Ye's seventh film but only the second (with Purple Butterfly in 2003) to have been released in his own country. The story is based on a series of posts under the title of "This Is How I Punish A Cheating Man And His Mistress" , which has over one million hits. "Mystery is beautiful and violent, both in the emotions it deals with and the scenes that display them. It echoes some of contemporary China's own problems, such as corruption, money, ambiguity and morality," says Brice Pedroletti in his review on The Guardian

The film competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. At the 7th Asian Film Awards the film won the Asian Film Award for Best Film.