Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Ecclesiastical The sixth of the seven canonical hours.
- n. Ecclesiastical A worship service held in the late afternoon or evening in many Western Christian churches.
- n. Ecclesiastical The time of day appointed for this service.
- n. Evensong.
- n. Roman Catholic Church A service held on Sundays or holy days that includes the office of vespers.
Wiktionary
- n. Christianity The sixth of the seven canonical hours
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One of the little hours of the Breviary.
- n. The evening song or service.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the sixth of the seven canonical hours of the divine office; early evening; now often made a public service on Sundays
Etymologies
- Obsolete French vespres, from Old French, from Medieval Latin vesperās, evening service, from Latin, accusative pl. of vespera, evening, variant of vesper; see vesper. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Without warning or presage the still evening air was smitten and made softly musical by the pealing of a distant chime, calling vespers to its brothers in Antwerp's hundred belfries; and one by one, far and near, the responses broke out, until it seemed as if the world must be vibrant with silver and brazen melody; until at the last the great bells in the”
“Half an hour after supper was read a brief evening service called vespers, and then the boys 'study hours commenced.”
“After vespers, that is to say half-past seven in the evening, the police regulations prohibit any woman from appearing in the streets dressed in the saya.”
“a vain spectacle, to ceremonies: going to mass, the sermon and vespers, which is all very well; but confession, the communion, fasting, doing without meat, is not common anywhere ....”
“Neckar breeze, laid down his awl and went to "vespers," -- a "maas" of cool beer and a "pretzel.”
“I’m going to something called vespers at five-fifteen and then meeting Father Samuel for dinner.”
“These "vespers," said the spokesman, usher in the start of "the Newman event.”
“Also, we are given only the "vespers" portion of the Rachmaninoff”
“vespers' for the benefit of some twenty hearers, mostly women in black.”
“Among the community of iPhone developers it is a reasonably safe bet that not too many of them wear wimples and sing vespers on a regular basis, which makes Sister Catherine Wybourne who tweets as @Digitalnun, Benedictine nun, HTML coder and now iPhone developer, something of special case.”
The Wall Street Journal: How Many iPhone Developers Wear Wimples?
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘vespers’.
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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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phrontistery-v
from phrontistery.info
vaccary, vaccimulgence, vaccine, vacillate, vadelect, vade-mecum, vadimony, vadose, vafrous, vagient, vagile, vagility and 396 more...
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Postscripture ✞
Terms associated with the Christianity, The Bible, etc. I have a related, but more narrow list called Imbible Code.
A related list is Words Associated With Jesus.apostole, pharaoh, sodom, babel, sabbath, baptize, cherub, elohim, lapsarian, crucifixion, nephilim, hosanna and 195 more...
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Times of Day
A cycle we should know by name
dawn, sunrise, daw, sparrow-fart, moonrise, daybreak, crepuscular, false dawn, greking, night, dusk, evenfall and 17 more...
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wakcy's Words
apocalypse, interlude, drome, absolution, atrocity, ruse, pristine, mason, reparable, deteriorate, pyramid, hipster and 283 more...
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ecbrenner's list
flatline, luddism, apocalipstick, muttsucker, leviathan of fore..., flint, coryphaeus, donnybrook, bandwidth, bagpipe the mizen, cheesed off, asterism and 525 more...
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Pretty Words
Words that sound pretty.
ethereal, ephemeral, iridescent, shimmer, wisp, whisper, charisma, crescent, azure, mystery, fantasy, miracle and 142 more...
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ShuckFinn's Words
abecedarian, conflate, mondegreen, whit, truculent, downright, pugnacious, effluvium, canker, inveigle, obfuscate, melancholy and 227 more...
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Pluralia Tantum
Nouns that are common in plural form but are non-existent or rarely used in singular form.
scissors, thanks, clothes, remains, tights, trousers, pants, news, billiards, means, mathematics, physics and 221 more...
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Word of the day.
Some days, there will be a word. That word is the word of the day. Other days shall remain wordless. That's just the way things go.
petulant, anisometropia, zoroaster, cram, affinity, proprietary, cupertino effect, sidereal, schmutz, icosanoids, vendetta, bougie and 137 more...
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Rilakkuma's list
The Velvetine Ruffians
gamine, waif, ruffian, villain, rake, libertine, velvetine, luminary, nom de plume, street urchin, epicurean, eventide and 256 more...
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dann's words
just some nice words that i like.
beamish, snark, sundry, contrariwise, salsify, cephalopod, omphaloskepsis, grok, resistentialism, peristerophobia, aglet, ferrule and 125 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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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 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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roseandivy's list
mooncalf, wonted, gibbet, artless, noontide, blithe, glitterati, vorpal, soporific, moxie, pilfer, betwixt and between and 263 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for vespers.

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