Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A bell that summons worshipers to vespers.
- n. The evening star, especially Venus.
- n. Archaic Evening.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A vesper hymn or song.
- n. The evening star, a name given to the planet Venus when she is east of the sun and appears after sunset; hence, the evening.
- n. plural [⟨ LL. vespera, ML. vesperæ, ⟨ vespera, evening.] In the Roman Catholic and Greek churches, and in religious houses and as a devotional office in the Anglican Church, the sixth or next to the last of the canonical hours. The observance of this hour is mentioned in the third century by St. Cyprian. The chief features of the Western vespers, besides the psalms and varying hymn. are the Magnificat and the collect for the day. The chief features of the Greek vespers (
ἑσπερινός ) are the psalms, the ancient hymn “Joyful Light,” the prokeimenon, and the Nunc Dimittis. The old English name for vespers is even-song. The Anglican public evening prayer, also calledeven-song , is mainly a combination and condensation of the Sarum vespers and complin, the part of the office from the first Lord's Prayer to the Magnificat inclusive representing vespers.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The evening star; Hesper; Venus, when seen after sunset; hence, the evening.
- adj. Of or pertaining to the evening, or to the service of vespers.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a late afternoon or evening worship service
- n. a planet (usually Venus) seen at sunset in the western sky
Etymologies
- Middle English, evening star, from Latin, evening; see wes-pero- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“And Mr. C.E.B., in the summertime they had what they called a vesper services up on Park Hill.”
“We looked about and could see neither her nor Alice; and as it was nearly the hour they call vesper, though the days were still pretty long, we were greatly alarmed at their disappearance.”
“Poor little girl; one day to be called a vesper Vole, the next to be forgotten altogether, the next to be remembered after this fashion.”
“To be sure the recitation in concert, where the names of the asteroids, only four in number (instead of a million and four) were brought out by some of us, as "vesper,”
“Stoles for festivals are generally ornamented with embroidery, especially what are called vesper stoles ".”
“John McCain needs to get his old behind on the battle field to see what these young men and women are going through. vesper”
“Last season hermeneutic of continuity published an update of my FARE 2008/9 professional work which as has now reached a critical legal juncture here in London : vesper has left a new comment on the post "Mass at St Peter's".”
“The hermeneutic of continuity recently published an update of my FARE 2008/9 professional work which as you are aware has now reached a critical legal juncture here in London : vesper has left a new comment on the post "Mass at St Peter's".”
“The hermeneutic of continuity recently published an update of my professional work which has now reached a critical legal juncture here in London : vesper has left a new comment on the post "Mass at St Peter's".”
“Poetry has been the key for me, try www.spreadtheword.org.uk : Threads Started By: vesper..”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘vesper’.
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Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
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Words
phantasmagoria, eviscerate, avast, simulacrum, varicose, oblique, gestalt, ersatz, vernal, vivace, stellate, synecdoche and 330 more...
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Artistic words
Good for poetry, or just artistic on their own.
fluxus, gallant, kinetic, lurk, disengage, mist, agleam, voyeur, devoid, crimson, ebony, azure and 94 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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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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inquiryqueue's list
words delicious to pronounce
apostrophe, asphodel, anemone, cantaloupe, cantalevered, cardamom, coriander, petrichor, sycamore, luminous, tendril, peculiar and 122 more...
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Is it morning yet?
coterie, lexeme, counterbalance, forthright, pigtail, ponytail, french-braid, barrette, listless, counsel, sitting duck, dead duck and 268 more...
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euphonic logorrhea
cephalopodous, plumulaceous, oblomovism, etiolation, pavonine, somnolent, logorrhea, fulguration, gossamer, prestidigitation, daffodil, inchoate and 174 more...
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lanas's Words
serendipitous, insouciant, charming, sanguine, dear, odd, quaint, small, tremble, blush, flirt, tryst and 248 more...
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Dain's Words
rabble, terminus, archaic, atavism, demiurge, waylay, syzygy, jocoserious, quark, entropy, cinnabar, shamble and 912 more...
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madamepsychosis's Words
mollify, salubrious, prandial, coup de grace, ineluctable, metempsychosis, pedant, conatus, oeuvre, laconic, solipsism, vapid and 265 more...
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xstala's Words
oneiric, inchoate, clandestine, tangerine, brusque, clout, benedictine, argonaut, juniper, tulle, zealot, vesper and 175 more...
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researchgirl's Words
palpable, vade mecum, penumbra, ephemera, esoteric, quirky, quintessential, aphorism, amnesia, insomnia, synesthesia, apostasy and 186 more...
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Cellar Door
It's the way the letters combine to form an beautiful whole and the way its sound tickles the ear.
capricious, sigh, jest, psyche, elf, wither, languish, wane, fade, caustic, pithy, epicene and 121 more...
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ifjuly's list
favorite words. some are made up injokes between me and my husband or family.
skein, zaftig, july, bed, orifice, aesthete, ink, parce-que, desormais, cake, pusillanimous, pulse and 531 more...
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fbharjo's Words
jumelle, kef, kenspeckle, lautitious, essentic, pilpulistic, impavid, cicurant, clou, chrysostomic, miasma, teleology and 1625 more...
Tweets
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