hymn

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A song of praise or thanksgiving to God or a deity.
2. n. A song of praise or joy; a paean.
3. v. To praise, glorify, or worship in or as if in a hymn.
4. v. To sing hymns.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In general, a religious ode, song, or other poem: as, the Homeric hymns; the hymns of Pindar. In Christian literature the term covers a wide range of poems, including those that embody not only adoration, thanksgiving, confession, and supplication to God, but also instruction and exhortation for men.
2. n. Specifically A metrical formula of public worship, usually designed to be sung by a company of worshipers. The hymns of the ancient Hebrews are technically called psalms. From the early Christian period many traces of hymns remain, as in the Magnificat, Benedictus, etc., in the New Testament, in such references as 1 Cor. xiv. 15, Eph. v. 19, Jas. v. 13, etc., and in the universally recognized Gloria Patri, Gloria in Excelsis, and Te Deum. The long succession of important Greek and Latin hymnists begins with Ephraem Syrus and Hilary of Poitiers (both of the fourth century) respectively, though several productions of known authorship antedate their time. Most of the great medieval Latin hymns were composed as sequences, the most famous being the Dies Iræ. The Roman Catholic Church possesses a large number of such hymns, mostly in Latin. The Reformation in Germany was distinguished by a remarkable outburst of hymns of every description. English hymnody began in the sixteenth century, but was principally confined to metrical versions of the Psalms until the first publication of Isaac Watts (in 1707) and the hymns of Charles and John Wesley. Since then the production of hymns has been constant and significant in both England and America. Medieval and modern hymns are nearly always divided into equal and similar sections of from three to twelve lines or strophes each, which are called stanzas or verses.
3. n. In a narrow sense, an extra-Biblical poem of worship: opposed to psalm. Specially used in connection with the discussions about the propriety of using any musical formulæ in public worship which are not directly derived from the Bible.
4. To celebrate or worship in song; address hymns to; salute with song.
5. To express in a hymn; sing as a hymn: as, “hymned thanks,”
6. To sing hymns.

Wiktionary

1. n. A song of praise or worship.
2. v. To sing a hymn; to praise or worship by singing.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. An ode or song of praise or adoration; especially, a religious ode, a sacred lyric; a song of praise or thanksgiving intended to be used in religious service
2. v. To praise in song; to worship or extol by singing hymns; to sing.
3. v. To sing in praise or adoration.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. sing a hymn
2. v. praise by singing a hymn
3. n. a song of praise (to God or to a saint or to a nation)