Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of the three canonical divisions of the office of matins.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Of the night; nightly.
- n. In the early Christian ch., one of several services recited at midnight or between midnight and dawn, and consisting chiefly of psalms and prayers. Later, in both the Greek and Latin churches, these were said just before daybreak, as one service, including both matins and lauds. In the Roman Catholic Church, matins consist sometimes of only one nocturn, and sometimes of three. See
matin , 2. - n. The part of the psalter used at nocturns, or the division used at each nocturn.
- n. Same as nocturne, 1.
- n. An organism whose color is different at night from what it is in the daytime. Also nocturne.
- To be different in color at night from what it is in the daytime; be a nocturn. Also nocturne.
Wiktionary
- n. The night office of the Christian Liturgy of the Hours, such as is performed in christian monasteries.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. An office of devotion, or act of religious service, by night.
- n. One of the portions into which the Psalter was divided, each consisting of nine psalms, designed to be used at a night service.
Etymologies
- Middle English nocturne, from Medieval Latin nocturna, from Latin, feminine of nocturnus, of the night; see nocturnal. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It was a snatch from a popular chorus, something he had heard sounding all over the town of Pisa one April night, one of the first bland and summer-like nights of the year, that Flavian had chosen for the refrain of a poem he was then pondering -- the Pervigilium Veneris -- the vigil, or "nocturn," of”
“The first nocturn has eleven psalms, and a homily of St. Augustine, divided into three readings; following the normal Ambrosian custom, there is a responsory after the first and second, but not the third.”
“The second nocturn has seven psalms, followed by the Passion of St. Mark, with a responsory, the Passion of Saint Luke, with a responsory, and the Passion of St. John, precede by chapter 13 and the first six verses of chapter 14 of the same Gospel.”
“The readings of the first nocturn of Tenebrae are from the Lamentations of Jeremiah and have, in our rite, a special and distinctive "funereal" chant.”
“In the first nocturn, the Church sings lessons from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, with a special melody famous for its solemnity and beauty, and entirely appropriate to the text.”
“What follows is most of the old second nocturn of the Carmelite breviary which tells his life in the grand old medieval style, full of miracles and wonders.”
“From the 2d nocturn in the old Carmelite breviary:”
“Sundays had 18 psalm Mattins divided into three nocturns each containing three lessons. 12 pss in the first nocturn.”
“Then I acquired very reasonably a 1946 Burns and Oates four volume breviary which has the advantage of including the full second nocturn readings these were mostly chopped to a single reading in the 1961 breviary.”
“Doubles had 9 psalm Mattins divided into three nocturns whilst ferial days and simples had a single nocturn containing 12 psalms and three lessons.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘nocturn’.
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (N)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
n'er do well, nana, narwhal, nasturtium, nativity, naught, nebulous, nectar, nest, nexus, nightfall, nightgown and 34 more...
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treeseed Historically, Nocturn is a very old term applied to night Offices and, since the Middle Ages, to divisions in the canonical hour of Matins.
Feb 17, 2008