Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A funeral rite or ceremony. Often used in the plural.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Ready compliance; deferential service; obsequiousness.
- n. A funeral rite or ceremony.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The last duty or service to a person, rendered after his death; hence, a rite or ceremony pertaining to burial; -- now used only in the plural.
- n. Obsequiousness.
Etymologies
- Middle English obsequi, from Old French obseque, from Medieval Latin obsequiae, alteration (influenced by Latin exsequiae, funeral rites) of Latin obsequia, pl. of obsequium, compliance, dutiful service; see obsequious.
Examples
“Man's introduction could be understood as the uncomfortable relation between obsequiousness and obsequy, that is, between the awkward coincidence of following one's teachers and issuing their burial rites. close window”
“Elizabeth's address is a kind of obsequy over, or elegy for, realism.”
“Few doubted the meaning of his plaintive beat, and most even then divined that that solitary, forlorn figure of a drummer was tapping out an obsequy for British colonial power over the thirteen states.”
“The second day after his obsequy was done reverently, and on his body laid”
“The next stanza speaks of "Dye Apguylamys," who is told to prepare the obsequy for Love, and of "Lady Apylton," who had offered a "mass-penny," and the epitaph ends with these stanzas:”
“Timber City was goin 'to be the very last doggone drink I was ever goin' to get, I'd kind of strung it along a little -- sort of sipped it slow an 'solemn as become an obsequy.”
“The second day after his obsequy was done reverently, and on his body laid a tomb of stone and his banner hanging over him.”
“The baylan gave a talk or a prolix prayer, and finished by saying: "May the dead receive that obsequy, by giving good fortune to the living.”
“And "You knew Mr. Bowen was no longer living?" she said, with fit obsequy of tone.”
“Wherever a red coat appeared it had its honorable obsequy in the popular interest, and if I might venture to sum up my impression of what I saw of soldiering in London I should say that it keeps its romance for the spectator far more than soldiering does in the Continental capitals, where it seems a slavery consciously sad and clearly discerned.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘obsequy’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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olelickerish
acnestis, myrmidon, mutande, licentious, lugubrious, obsequy, quidnunc, steatopygous, frisson, termagant, emanuensis, hill of venus

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