Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A sacred song; a hymn.
- n. See Table at Bible.
- v. To sing of or celebrate in psalms.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A sacred poem or song, especially one in which expressions of praise and thanksgiving are prominent: usually restricted either to those contained in the Book of Psalms, or to the versifications of these composed for the use of churches, as the Psalms of Tate and Brady, of Watts, etc.
- n. plural [capitalized] A book of the Old Testament which follows Job and precedes Proverbs, and contains 150 psalms and hymns; more fully, the Book of Psalms. The authorship of a large number of the psalms is ascribed traditionally to David. Many of them, however, are supposed to date from the time of the exile or later.
- n. plural Among the ancient Jews, the Hagiographa: so called because the Psalms constitute the first book in it.
- To sing psalms.
- To celebrate in psalms; hymn.
Wiktionary
- n. A sacred song; a poetical composition for use in the praise or worship of God.
- n. Especially, one of the hymns by David and others, collected into one book of the Old Testament, or a modern metrical version of such a hymn for public worship.
- v. To extol in psalms; to make music; to sing; as, psalming his praises.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A sacred song; a poetical composition for use in the praise or worship of God.
- n. Especially, one of the hymns by David and others, collected into one book of the Old Testament, or a modern metrical version of such a hymn for public worship.
- v. To extol in psalms; to sing.
WordNet 3.0
- v. sing or celebrate in psalms
- n. any sacred song used to praise the deity
- n. one of the 150 lyrical poems and prayers that comprise the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament; said to have been written by David
Etymologies
- From Middle English salm or psalme, from Old English psealm, later reinforced from Old French psalme (modern French psaume), both from Latin psalmus, from Ancient Greek ψαλμός (psalmos, "the sound emenating from twitching or twanging perhaps with the hands or fingers, mostly of musical strings") (from ψάλλω (psallo, "to make a sound by striking, touching, plucking, rubbing, twanging, or vibrating")), but later in New Testament times the meaning of ψαλμός evolved from its Classical meaning of "a tune played to the harp" to a more general tune that could be played with any instrument; even a song sung with or without their accompaniment. By the Byzantine Period, it lost all of its instrumental characteristics. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old English, from Latin psalmus, from Greek psalmos, from psallein, to play the harp. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The term psalm is first mentioned in the First Book of Kings (16,18).”
“This psalm is an invitation but also shows the practical aspect of how going to any other source is very limited in terms of actual help and value, and both now and in the moments and days ahead, it will be the superseding and presiding help of the Lord that rules and overrules all situations and surrounding circumstances.”
“This psalm is a brief encomium on unity and brotherly love, which, if we did not see the miseries of discord among men, we should think needless; but we cannot say too much, it were well if we could say enough, to persuade people to live together in peace.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
“The scope of this psalm is the same with that of the foregoing psalm, but there is something very singular in the composition of it; for the latter half of each verse is the same, repeated throughout the psalm,”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
“This latter part of the psalm is addressed to the royal bride, standing on the right hand of the royal bridegroom.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
“Though this psalm is attributed to Asaph in the title, yet it does so exactly agree with David's circumstances, at his coming to the crown after the death of Saul, that most interpreters apply it to that juncture, and suppose that either Asaph penned it, in the person of”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
“This psalm is a prayer, the substance of which David offered up to God when he was forced by Saul to take shelter in a cave, and which he afterwards penned in this form.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
“This psalm is the last of those that go under the name of Asaph.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
“This psalm is an illustrious prophecy of Messiah the Prince: it is all over gospel, and points at him only, as a bridegroom espousing the church to himself and as a king ruling in it and ruling for it.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
“This psalm is a most solemn and earnest call to all the creatures, according to their capacity, to praise their Creator, and to show forth his eternal power and Godhead, the invisible things of which are manifested in the things that are seen.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘psalm’.
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G[r]eek
A collection of words found in English that are either purely Greek or have Greek etymology.
Please add with caution and certainty. Will be regularly updated by me.etymology, philosophy, laconic, disharmony, patriarchic, archaic, phlogiston, aether, aeon, angel, arachnid, rhythm and 346 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Words without the letter E
chord, slur, anabaptist, anabolic, diabolic, turbid, torpid, somniloquist, trump, bipolar, dioxin, hydrocarbon and 107 more...
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EN - pronunciation fun
All words of the poem
The Chaos
by Gerard Nolst Trenité
Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse <...abyss, ache, actual, advice, aerie, age, ague, aisles, alas, alien, alive, allowed and 406 more...
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religion
who is this god person, anyway? (--Douglas Adams)
sachristy, vestry, diocese, papal, cardinal, pope, polygamy, seven, father, chaplain, vestments, blessing and 227 more...
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Starts with a silent letter
...with grateful thanks to telofy (for "cnidarian"), and to the song "Crazy ABC's" by Barenaked Ladies.
cnidarian, mnemonic, chthonic, ptarmigan, psoriasis, psittacine, bdellium, aisle, czar, gnarly, gnat, gnaw and 82 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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The O.U.P. Junior Dictionary Death Row
Another news story about words being removed from a dictionary before their time. See also the list of words added to the dictionary.
carol, cracker, holly, ivy, mistletoe, dwarf, elf, goblin, abbey, aisle, altar, bishop and 137 more...
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the omnibus
preponderance, idioglossia, acumen, heteronym, flux, anacoluthon, metonymy, impetus, constellation, exegesis, revelatory, cloistered and 877 more...
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amazing grace
hymn, nave, narthex, chapel, novice, asperges, altar, annunciation, liturgical, litany, nicene creed, cloister and 209 more...
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Bible names
noah, almighty, cain, abel, father, mother, israel, king, sanctuary, spirit, psalm, blessing and 236 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (P)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
pagan, page, pageant, pageboy, pagoda, paisley, paladin, palfrey, paling, pampas grass, pan, panoply and 194 more...
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spamdad's Words
lambic, weizenbock, bock, zymurgy, vade mecum, quotidian, sesquipedalian, eremite, sphragis, privation, aegis, sui generis and 275 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, P
pellucid, pertain, pampas, prate, pinecone, philistine, pantocrator, papaverine, postmeridian, potlatch, pharology, pinniped and 622 more...
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Christian Music
all words that have sth to do with Christian Music of all times...
melody, hymn, worship, celebrate, psalm, david, choir, praise, christian, music, service, church and 26 more...
Tweets
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