Definition of Pentecost

1. Noun. Seventh Sunday after Easter; commemorates the emanation of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles; a quarter day in Scotland.

Exact synonyms: Whitsunday
Generic synonyms: Quarter Day
Group relationships: Whitsun, Whitsuntide, Whitweek
Derivative terms: Pentecostal

2. Noun. (Judaism) Jewish holy day celebrated on the sixth of Sivan to celebrate Moses receiving the Ten Commandments.
Exact synonyms: Feast Of Weeks, Shabuoth, Shavous, Shavuot, Shavuoth
Category relationships: Judaism
Generic synonyms: Jewish Holy Day
Derivative terms: Pentecostal

Definition of Pentecost

1. n. A solemn festival of the Jews; -- so called because celebrated on the fiftieth day (seven weeks) after the second day of the Passover (which fell on the sixteenth of the Jewish month Nisan); -- hence called, also, the Feast of Weeks. At this festival an offering of the first fruits of the harvest was made. By the Jews it was generally regarded as commemorative of the gift of the law on the fiftieth day after the departure from Egypt.

Definition of Pentecost

1. Proper noun. A Jewish festival (also known as Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks) seven weeks after the feast of Firstfruits or Yom Habikkurim, originally a harvest festival but, since the destruction of the Temple, also commemorating the anniversary of the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai. [See Wikipedia article on Shavuot for further information on, and chronology of, these feasts.] ¹

2. Proper noun. The particular (Jewish) Pentecost 49 days (inclusive) after the resurrection of Jesus on the (Jewish) Day of First Fruits, when (in Christian teaching) the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles with miraculous effects including the ability to explain the Gospel intelligibly in languages they did not know; or a similar occasion since. ¹

3. Proper noun. Christian festival (also known as Whitsun or Whitsunday), which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles (see above definition). ¹

4. Proper noun. Pentecostal manifestation, such as in a church service. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Medical Definition of Pentecost

1. 1. A solemn festival of the Jews; so called because celebrated on the fiftieth day (seven weeks) after the second day of the Passover (which fell on the sixteenth of the Jewish month Nisan); hence called, also, the Feast of Weeks. at this festival an offering of the first fruits of the harvest was made. By the Jews it was generally regarded as commemorative of the gift of the law on the fiftieth day after the departure from Egypt. 2. A festival of the Roman Catholic and other churches in commemoration of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles; which occurred on the day of Pentecost; called also Whitsunday. Origin: L. Pentecoste, Gr. (sc) the fiftieth day, Pentecost, fr. Fiftieth, fr. Fifty, fr. Five. See Five, and cf. Pingster. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Pentecost

pentatriacontane
pentatriacontanoic
pentatriacontanoic acid
pentatriene
pentatrienes
pentavalent
pentavalent gas gangrene antitoxin
pentaxin
pentaxins
pentazocine
pentazocines
pentazole
pentazoles
penteconter
penteconters
pentecost (current term)
pentecostalism
pentecoster
pentecosters
pentecosties
pentecosty
pentel
pentels
pentene
pentenes
pentennial
pentenyl
penteract
pentereme
penteremes

Literary usage of Pentecost

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the by Charles George Herbermann (1913)
"In Canada, Fridays during the year, Wednesdays during Lent and Advent, Ember Days, the vigils of Christmas, Easter, pentecost, the Assumption, ..."

2. History of the Christian Church by John Fletcher Hurst (1897)
"pentecost AND ITS RESULTS. THE descent of the Holy Spirit at the first Jewish pentecost succeeding the death of our Lord had a great twofold significance: ..."

3. General History of the Christian Religion and Church by August Neander, K. F. Th Schneider (1853)
"It where he subsequently transfers the entire charges the former, who did but wrongly celebration of Sunday to the pentecost, that apply the name of ..."

4. Dictionary of the Apostolic Church by James Hastings, John Alexander Selbie, John Chisholm Lambert (1918)
"That is quite compatible with giving full weight to pentecost as ushering in a special manifestation of God's Spirit and an era which was to be peculiarly ..."

5. History of the Planting and Training of the Christian Church by the Apostles by August Neander (1847)
"On account of this event, the pentecost which the disciples celebrated soon ... When Hase, in his Essay on the First Christian pentecost, in the Second Part ..."

6. Dictionary of the Bible: Comprising Its Antiquities, Biography, Geography by William Smith, Horatio Balch Hackett, Ezra Abbot (1872)
"Although, according to the Law, the observance of pentecost lasted hut a single ... The concourse of Jews who attended pentecost in later times appears to ..."

7. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: Embracing by Johann Jakob Herzog, Philip Schaff, Albert Hauck (1910)
"L Jewish: For the ancient Israelites pentecost was the second of their three pilgrimage festivals, and formed a religious close for the harvest time, ..."

8. The Musical World (1875)
"Duet or Chorus Webbe 3y 5th Sunday after pentecost Audi ... Solo or Chorus Webbe •in Tth Sunday after pentecost Sicut in ..."

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