Definitions

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

  • interjection Hallelujah.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Same as halleluiah.
  • noun Same as halleluiah.
  • noun A name given in Europe to the wood-sorrel, Oxalis Acetosella.

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

  • noun An exclamation signifying Praise ye Jehovah. Hence: A song of praise to God. See hallelujah, the commoner form.

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

  • interjection A liturgical or variant form of hallelujah.
  • noun A liturgical form of hallelujah.
  • noun music A choral composition incorporating alleluia in its text.

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, from Medieval Latin, from Late Greek allelouia, from Hebrew halləlû-yāh, praise Yahweh; see hallelujah.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin alleluia, from Hebrew הללויה ("Praise Jah!").

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Examples

  • Alleluia: quemadmodum vidistis eum ascendentem in caelum, ita veniet, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

    Ascension Day Music for the Mass bls 2008

  • Alleluia: quemadmodum vidistis eum ascendentem in caelum, ita veniet, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

    Archive 2008-04-01 bls 2008

  • Alleluia: quemadmodum vidistis eum ascendentem in caelum, ita veniet, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

    Archive 2008-04-01 bls 2008

  • Alleluia: quemadmodum vidistis eum ascendentem in caelum, ita veniet, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

    Office Hymns for Ascension bls 2008

  • The chant became very elaborate, the greater part of it being devoted to the last vowel of the word alleluia, which was prolonged through so many successive notes as to suggest a mystical meaning, viz., that it represented the chant of eternity, or, as Durandus says, the joy that is too great to be expressed in words.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 12: Philip II-Reuss 1840-1916 1913

  • And it is to wit that this word alleluia is expounded in four manners after four doctors, the first is S. Austin, which exposeth it thus:

    The Golden Legend, vol. 7 1230-1298 1900

  • Matthew, and Thomas, and the still more familiar Jack and Jockey; and even with a few words of Hebrew origin, such as alleluia, balm, bedlam, camel, cider, and sabbath.

    English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present Day 1873

  • "alleluia;" they clapped their hands, leaped up, fell down, clasped each other in their free arms, cried, laughed, and went to and fro, tossing upward their unfettered hands; but high above the whole there was a mighty sound which ever and anon swelled up; it was the utterings in broken negro dialect of gratitude to God.

    The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus American Anti-Slavery Society

  • Embedded in Koine Greek, and preserved in Latin translations of the Bible, a few Hebrew terms were widely employed in Old English, such as amen and alleluia, Hebrew for “so be it” and “praise Yah,” more often rendered “verily” and “praise the Lord.”

    The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010

  • Embedded in Koine Greek, and preserved in Latin translations of the Bible, a few Hebrew terms were widely employed in Old English, such as amen and alleluia, Hebrew for “so be it” and “praise Yah,” more often rendered “verily” and “praise the Lord.”

    The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010

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