Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A sacrament and the central act of worship in many Christian churches, which was instituted at the Last Supper and in which bread and wine are consecrated and consumed in remembrance of Jesus's death; Communion.
  • noun The consecrated elements of this rite; Communion.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of giving thanks; thanksgiving.
  • noun The sacrament of the Lord's supper; the communion; the sacrifice of the mass. See communion, mass, and transubstantiation.
  • noun The consecrated elements in the Lord's supper.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete The act of giving thanks; thanksgiving.
  • noun (Eccl.) The sacrament of the Lord's Supper; the solemn act of ceremony of commemorating the death of Christ, in the use of bread and wine, as the appointed emblems; the communion.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The Christian sacrament of Holy Communion.
  • noun by extension A Christian religious service in which this sacrament is enacted.
  • noun The substances received during this sacrament, namely the bread and wine, seen as Christ’s body and blood.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a Christian sacrament commemorating the Last Supper by consecrating bread and wine

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English eukarist, from Old French eucariste, from Late Latin eucharistia, from Greek eukharistiā, from eukharistos, grateful, thankful : eu-, eu- + kharizesthai, to show favor (from kharis, grace; see gher- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English eukariste, from Old French, from Late Latin eucharistia, from Ancient Greek εὐχαριστία (eukharistia, "gratitude, giving of thanks")

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