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prayer
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
prayer
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
Lord's Prayer
Morning Prayer
prayer book
prayer mat
prayer wheel
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
daily
▪ His daily prayer was that he would be allowed to stay here.
▪ Please know that you are daily in my prayers.
▪ Otherwise why do the five daily prayers bear the names of the positions of the sun in the sky?
eucharistic
▪ It never, however, approved the celebration of the Mass wholly in the vernacular, Eucharistic prayer and all.
▪ As a consequence of this fact it is possible to delineate the proper role of the congregation in the eucharistic prayer.
▪ However, as we have seen, the Sanctus is likewise a part of the eucharistic prayer.
▪ Her task was to write a meditation on one of the Eucharistic prayers the priest recites at Mass.
▪ As is evident from an examination of other rites, there are also other possibilities for congregational involvement in the eucharistic prayer.
silent
▪ For an hour the two women sat in silent prayer, nervously scanning the other customers.
▪ As taps played across the land, Oliver Stone must have bowed his head in silent prayer.
▪ His lips moved in silent prayer.
▪ He paused for a moment, his head bowed in silent prayer.
▪ Half an hour - at least: songs, prayers, loud prayers, silent prayers.
▪ Being silent in prayer is another dimension of being quiet with the other person.
▪ Half of his mind was saying silent prayers.
▪ She lit a candle over there as a silent prayer for her estranged husband and went home.
special
▪ Traditionally, these days were set apart for special prayer and fasting.
▪ For the end of her litany, Dalim reserved a very special prayer, one that she herself composed.
▪ Meanwhile, the Sisters started special prayers.
▪ Richard Baxter arranged a day of special prayer and fasting for her deliverance on New Year's Eve 1659.
■ NOUN
book
▪ At her girdle hung a gold chain and cross, and she carried a handkerchief and a little prayer book bound in gold.
▪ A congregation in Tampa sent over some prayer books, while Unity of Leesburg donated a pulpit.
▪ When he reached his church, he missed the prayer book, and hurried back.
▪ Naturally the overseas extensions of the Anglican way of life were interested to revise their own prayer books.
▪ The vicar paced behind, holding his prayer book, his hair floating up and down in the draught from the door.
▪ She even carried her own prayer book.
books
▪ The care with which Christians had treasured their Bibles, prayer books and hymn books was very touching.
▪ A congregation in Tampa sent over some prayer books, while Unity of Leesburg donated a pulpit.
▪ Naturally the overseas extensions of the Anglican way of life were interested to revise their own prayer books.
evening
▪ Madani and Belhadj, citing this concession, asked their followers at evening prayers in Algiers to end the strike.
▪ By the time dinner has been eaten and evening prayers conducted it is eight o'clock and about a hundred people have gathered.
▪ A kind of swooning, An evening prayer.
▪ He thought he might because evening prayer on Good Friday was in a way a funeral service.
▪ The Moors wept at leaving Granada and still mourn its loss in their evening prayers.
▪ The senior Sharifi led evening prayers and, after a meal, they began the proceedings.
▪ After evening prayers something happened to arouse her fears further.
mat
▪ Coffee thermoses, incense pots, boxes of fruit, trays to serve it on, suitcases, prayer mats.
meeting
▪ The prayer meetings were then held in the Methodist and Presbyterian churches.
▪ Their weeks are filled with convivial church suppers, musically upbeat prayer meetings, and jubilant testimony services.
▪ Christians had been compelled to give up meetings for corporate worship, but still kept up small prayer meetings in houses.
▪ I went to the early morning prayer meeting with Mum.
▪ It is reckoned that on one occasion 15000 people attended a prayer meeting in Armagh.
▪ Friday the choir practice and on Saturday a prayer meeting for the services on Sunday.
▪ Yet prayer meetings for the renewal of the church and for revival in the nation are not an automatic answer to decline.
▪ One learns to grow suspicious of cosy, predictable and sentimental prayer meetings.
morning
▪ I went to the early morning prayer meeting with Mum.
▪ At five, just before he was to get up for morning prayer and study; the wind began.
▪ He could never be happy with morning prayer and not the sacrament as the chief morning service.
▪ Cold silence for his morning prayer.
▪ After breakfast and morning prayers, John left to dig peats on the muir to the east of his home.
▪ Decorations for bravery won by past pupils were announced at morning prayers, and invariably earned the boys a half-holiday.
rug
▪ This is essential with prayer rugs and pictorial carpets, which lose much of their impact if viewed upside-down.
▪ We travel the world with our gym bags and prayer rugs, unrolling them in the transit lounges.
school
▪ Christians have hauled the Republican Party towards their views on abortion and school prayer.
▪ For a few, they include positions on such hot-button issues as abortion, gay rights, and school prayer.
▪ They led the fight against school prayer, year after year.
▪ These issues include abortion, the balanced federal budget, school prayer, and even flag burning.
service
▪ Organise a prayer service and/or information event for your parish or deanery.
▪ More than 500 students packed the Immaculate Conceptcion Chapel for a 50-minute campus-wide prayer service Thursday evening.
■ VERB
answer
▪ Both play a very clever trick which will answer the prayers of video users all round the world.
▪ I thought I could bestow beauty like a benediction and that your half-dark flesh would answer to the prayer.
▪ A very last thought is that we must do everything possible to answer our own prayers.
call
▪ I sat watching as the sun reached its zenith and the muezzin began to call the people to prayers.
▪ He also called for prayers for both victims and perpetrators of violence.
▪ From the top of one these, a muezzin calls the faithful to prayer.
▪ Teddy Although the authors call them letters they are in fact a form of communication we call prayer.
hear
▪ Lord in your mercy - hear our prayer.
▪ Had anyone ever heard of a prayer like that?
▪ Lord, in Your mercy Hear our prayer.
▪ For our daily bread accept our praise and hear our prayer.
▪ Heavenly Father has heard our prayers.
▪ She heard Anna's prayers, tucked her into bed and kissed her goodnight before going to Mrs Carson.
▪ The Lord heard their prayers and restored him.
hold
▪ We need to see the comfort a confused old person derives from holding a prayer book or rosary.
▪ Kind Mrs Chalmers holds the prayer book high, as if for Frank - who can't read - to see it.
▪ Buddhist monks dressed in ochre robes lit traditional butter lamps and held a six-hour prayer vigil at a Himalayan monastery in Sikkim.
▪ The vicar paced behind, holding his prayer book, his hair floating up and down in the draught from the door.
▪ In the front room she started to hold prayer meetings that were almost like seances.
join
▪ He joined the church's prayer for boldness to do exactly what he had been told by the authorities not to do.
▪ She joined a prayer group that met weekly to read and reflect on the Scriptures.
▪ At the graveside, Jules and Marie were joining the priest in prayer.
▪ The Catholic hierarchy was joined at the prayer vigil by the Rev.
▪ We join in prayers for peace with kin beyond sea.
kneel
▪ You are here to kneel Where prayer has been valid.
▪ His sweatshirt hood, steeply pitched overhead: a lone monk kneeling at prayer at a partially disinterred altar.
▪ Many of the godly liked to portray themselves and their families kneeling in prayer on their tombs.
▪ Kopyion was kneeling as if in prayer.
lead
▪ He might simply be a small-time official who leads the prayers in the neighborhood mosque.
▪ An introductory note says that she used to read prayers very slowly with frequent pauses, which led almost instantaneously to prayer.
▪ In the beginning the two functions were linked; the caliph necessarily had to lead the prayers.
▪ The senior Sharifi led evening prayers and, after a meal, they began the proceedings.
offer
▪ Each morning the strike council opened business by some one offering a prayer.
▪ She offered ardent prayers to them perpetually, but not one of them would do anything to make Venus their enemy.
▪ Perhaps you would like to help; please do not feel maudlin or offer a vicarious prayer.
▪ So in offering prayers for downtrodden races, I would advise you not to overlook the downtrodden tourist.
▪ Miles offered up a silent prayer as he walked.
▪ She would offer up a silent prayer.
▪ After offering a prayer, the virgin expired.
pray
▪ Gildas believed in something sacred and holy, and Ludens felt sure that Gildas prayed, whatever prayer was.
▪ That was a real two-for-one deal, Father, because I prayed that prayer with you.
▪ As we pray this prayer we join with those generous young men as they set out on their missionary journeys.
▪ I think you should pray some other prayer.
▪ I would not pray that prayer if I was going to continue to hold something against some one.
▪ Carla prayed without prayer that this interview would stop now.
read
▪ He read the opening prayers from the platform and spoke impressively to the undergraduates about their attitudes to the mission.
▪ When it came, he brought the crosier back to his side and began to read the prayers from the book.
▪ An introductory note says that she used to read prayers very slowly with frequent pauses, which led almost instantaneously to prayer.
▪ A priest came forward and opened the book from which Hughes was to read the prayers.
▪ This also comes into being as we couple reading the Bible with prayer.
▪ On this occasion she did not preach, but simply read the prayers of petition.
recite
▪ One recollection of Leonard's concerns his reciting a prayer at Synagogue, which he got wrong.
▪ The rabbi bowed as low as if he were reciting the Modim Anakhnu prayer in the synagogue.
▪ He can even recite a prayer in the language of the Sioux, albeit with a Wiltshire accent.
▪ All over the city, all over Ireland, now, people would be pausing to recite a prayer.
said
▪ He said a small prayer and stepped out into the muddy, windy darkness.
▪ He told them to kneel, and said a prayer over them.
▪ Her kneeling the whole time, clutching a rosary as she said her prayers.
▪ I patted Kibbles a couple of times, said a little prayer and went back into our house.
▪ Finally, after the evening biscuit and drink of water, we said prayers and went to bed.
▪ Fong knelt in the darkness of the back room and said a prayer.
▪ A priest and the hospital chaplain said prayers and blessed the ward.
▪ He planted a dead vine branch, then said a prayer for an early harvest.
say
▪ Pull your belly in, you tart and get useful. Say a prayer for Lee.
▪ Finally he agreed to give her fifteen minutes to say her prayers.
▪ He said a small prayer and stepped out into the muddy, windy darkness.
▪ He told them to kneel, and said a prayer over them.
▪ Finally, after the evening biscuit and drink of water, we said prayers and went to bed.
▪ In unison, we all began saying different prayers aloud.
▪ Perhaps you'd better get Fiddy to say some prayers for me.
▪ Fong knelt in the darkness of the back room and said a prayer.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
offer (up) a prayer/sacrifice etc
▪ After offering a prayer, the virgin expired.
▪ Can you find somewhere to offer up a prayer? 36.
▪ Each morning the strike council opened business by some one offering a prayer.
▪ So in offering prayers for downtrodden races, I would advise you not to overlook the downtrodden tourist.
▪ They found him and his sons on the shore offering a sacrifice to Poseidon.
on a wing and a prayer
the Lord's Prayer
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a prayer meeting
▪ His constant prayer was for an end to the war.
▪ Our prayers for peace have been answered.
▪ Our thoughts and prayers are with the Hinson family.
▪ She knelt to say a prayer of profound thankfulness.
▪ The monks here believe strongly in the power of prayer and meditation.
▪ The synagogue is used for prayer and study.
▪ Their heads were bowed in prayer.
▪ We always used to say our prayers before going to bed.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ From within the house came the mutterings of prayers, accompanied by the tinkling of gamelan instruments.
▪ In this paper we have stayed close to the pattern presented in the tradition and in official contemporary prayers.
▪ Some of the prayers are sobs and groans.
▪ There is an old saying: Be careful what you pray for, lest your prayers be answered.
▪ This prayer has no special introduction or conclusion.
▪ This is a besieged, privileged and panicked minority at prayer.
Related phrases:
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Prayer

Prayer \Pray"er\, n. One who prays; a supplicant.

Prayer

Prayer \Prayer\ (?; 277), n. [OE. preiere, OF. preiere, F. pri[`e]re, fr. L. precarius obtained by prayer, fr. precari to pray. See Pray, v. i.]

  1. The act of praying, or of asking a favor; earnest request or entreaty; hence, a petition or memorial addressed to a court or a legislative body. ``Their meek preyere.''
    --Chaucer

  2. The act of addressing supplication to a divinity, especially to the true God; the offering of adoration, confession, supplication, and thanksgiving to the Supreme Being; as, public prayer; secret prayer.

    As he is famed for mildness, peace, and prayer.
    --Shak.

  3. The form of words used in praying; a formula of supplication; an expressed petition; especially, a supplication addressed to God; as, a written or extemporaneous prayer; to repeat one's prayers.

    He made those excellent prayers which were published immediately after his death.
    --Bp. Fell.

    Prayer book, a book containing devotional prayers.

    Prayer meeting, a meeting or gathering for prayer to God.

    Syn: Petition; orison; supplication; entreaty; suit.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
prayer

c.1300, from Old French prier "prayer, petition, request" (12c., Modern French prière), from Medieval Latin precaria "petition, prayer," noun use of Latin adjective precaria, fem. of precarius "obtained by prayer, given as a favor," from precari "to ask, beg, pray" (see pray). Related: Prayers.\n

\nPrayer-book attested from 1590s; prayer-meeting from 1780. To not have a prayer "have no chance" is from 1941.

Wiktionary
prayer

Etymology 1 n. 1 A practice of communicate with one's God. 2 The act of praying. Etymology 2

n. One who prays.

Related phrases:
WordNet
prayer

  1. n. the act of communicating with a deity (especially as a petition or in adoration or contrition or thanksgiving); "the priest sank to his knees in prayer" [syn: supplication]

  2. reverent petition to a deity [syn: petition, orison]

  3. earnest or urgent request; "an entreaty to stop the fighting"; "an appeal for help"; "an appeal to the public to keep calm" [syn: entreaty, appeal]

  4. a fixed text used in praying

  5. someone who prays to God [syn: supplicant]

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Prayer

Prayer (from the Latin precari "to ask earnestly, beg, entreat") is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication.

Prayer can be a form of religious practice, may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words, song or complete silence. When language is used, prayer may take the form of a hymn, incantation, formal creedal statement, or a spontaneous utterance in the praying person. There are different forms of prayer such as petitionary prayer, prayers of supplication, thanksgiving, and praise. Prayer may be directed towards a deity, spirit, deceased person, or lofty idea, for the purpose of worshipping, requesting guidance, requesting assistance, confessing transgressions ( sins) or to express one's thoughts and emotions. Thus, people pray for many reasons such as personal benefit, asking for divine grace, spiritual connection, or for the sake of others.

Some anthropologists believe that the earliest intelligent modern humans practiced a form of prayer. Today, most major religions involve prayer in one way or another; some ritualize the act of prayer, requiring a strict sequence of actions or placing a restriction on who is permitted to pray, while others teach that prayer may be practiced spontaneously by anyone at any time.

Scientific studies regarding the use of prayer have mostly concentrated on its effect on the healing of sick or injured people. Meta-studies of the studies in this field have been performed showing evidence only for no effect or a potentially small effect. For instance, a 2006 meta analysis on 14 studies concluded that there is "no discernable effect" while a 2007 systemic review of studies on intercessory prayer reported inconclusive results, noting that 7 of 17 studies had "small, but significant, effect sizes" but the review noted that the most methodologically rigorous studies failed to produce significant findings. Some studies have indicated increased medical complications in groups receiving prayer over those without. The efficacy of petition in prayer for physical healing to a deity has been evaluated in numerous other studies, with contradictory results. There has been some criticism of the way the studies were conducted.

Prayer (Robin Schulz album)

Prayer is the debut studio album by German DJ and record producer Robin Schulz, it was released on 19 September 2014. The album includes the singles " Waves (Robin Schulz Remix)", " Prayer in C (Robin Schulz Remix)", " Willst Du" and " Sun Goes Down".

Prayer (disambiguation)

Prayer is the active effort to communicate with a deity or higher being.

Prayer or Prayers may also refer to:

In music:

  • Prayer (Robin Schulz album)
  • "Prayer", a song from The Scarlet Pimpernel (musical)
  • "Prayer", a song from Secret Garden's album Dawn of a New Century
  • "Prayer", a song from Sevendust (album)
  • "Prayer" (single), a song from Nami Tamaki
  • "Prayer" (song), a song from rock band Disturbed
  • "Prayers" (In This Moment song)
  • Prayers (rock duo)
  • "The Prayer" (Bloc Party song)
  • "The Prayer" (Kid Cudi song)
  • "The Prayer" (Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli song)

Other uses:

  • "Prayer", a poem by Patti Smith in kodak (book)
  • Prayer (legal term), an official description of a plaintiff's demands
  • "Prayer" (Farscape episode)
  • Prayers (anime), a direct-to-video animated film
Prayer (song)

"Prayer" is a song released on August 14, 2002 by the American heavy metal band Disturbed as the first single from their second album, Believe. It was inspired by the death of vocalist David Draiman's grandfather as well as various circumstances after the September 11 attacks, and is about a conversation between Draiman and God. Upon release, many media outlets refused to air the "Prayer" music video, citing supposed similarities between the imagery of the music video and that of the September 11 attacks. "Prayer" peaked at number-three on two United States airplay charts, Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks and Modern Rock Tracks charts, as well as peaking at number-fifty-eight on Billboard Hot 100 and number-fourteen on the Canadian Singles Chart. "Prayer" is Disturbed's highest charting single on both the Billboard Hot 100 as well as the Modern Rock Tracks chart, and 1 of only 2 of their songs to reach the top 5 on the latter chart (the other being " Inside the Fire", which peaked at No. 4).

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "prayer".

The sobs which interrupted the short and simple allocution which the pastor made to his flock overcame him so much that he stopped and said no more, except to invite all present to fervent prayer.

The prayers of the Goths were granted, and their service was accepted by the Imperial court: and orders were immediately despatched to the civil and military governors of the Thracian diocese, to make the necessary preparations for the passage and subsistence of a great people, till a proper and sufficient territory could be allotted for their future residence.

The sound of prayer became an antiphony to the chanting and the sound of the bell.

The Roman Catholic ceremony of beatification and canonization of saints, offering them incense and prayers thereafter, means exactly what was meant by the ancient apotheosis, namely, that while the multitudes of the dead abide below, in the intermediate state, these favored souls have been advanced into heaven.

Honoria could no longer aspire, and whose monastic assiduity of prayer, fasting, and vigils, she reluctantly imitated.

Gideon Planish at an Eskimo Culture rally held by the Antinomians, he inquired whether the good Doctor was a believing Fundamentalist who had family prayers night and morning.

States, cordially concurring with the Congress of the United States, in the penitential and pious sentiments expressed in the aforesaid resolutions, and heartily approving of the devotional design and purpose thereof, do hereby appoint the first Thursday of August next to be observed by the people of the United States as a day of national humiliation and prayer.

While the faithful filled the churches offering up prayers for the success of the exorcisms, Mignon and Barre entered upon their task at the convent, where they remained shut up with the nuns for six hours.

Patient as a fox on a long scent in autumn, he would have kept himself lean and circumspect, until, through the help of lugubrious prayer and lantern visage, he could have beguiled into matrimony some one feminine member of the flock--not always fair--whose worldly goods would have sufficed in full atonement for all those circumspect, self-imposed restraints, which we find asually so well rewarded.

His Father, He besought Him in prayer for those gifts still due to Him in His human nature, such as the glory of His body, and the like.

She said a brief prayer of gratitude that the large room was empty save for a number of masculine-looking chairs, an intricately carved billiards table, and the faintest hint of long ago cigar smoke.

The bonze muttered the shortest prayer that I had ever heard, and the sergeant at arms asked if the victim had any last words.

His neck lay on the block, and the bonze mumbled a prayer, and the sergeant at arms asked if he had any last words.

Baudolino, the Poet, Boron, and Kyot knelt in prayer, while at a slight distance Solomon murmured the litanies that the Jews habitually recite.

Ireland so suitable for the tomb of Brian Boru as the chapel where he said his prayers?