Definitions

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

  • noun The act of shriving.
  • noun Confession to a priest.
  • noun Absolution given by a priest.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The penitential act of confession to a priest, especially in the case of a dying penitent.
  • noun Absolution received after confession; pardon.
  • noun The priestly act of confessing and absolving a penitent.
  • noun Figuratively, in strict confidence; as if in confession.
  • To confess and absolve; shrive.

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

  • noun The act of shriving.
  • noun Confession made to a priest, and the absolution consequent upon it.
  • noun a priest to whom confession is made.

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

  • noun The act of going to or hearing a religious confession.
  • noun Confession to a priest.
  • noun obsolete Forgiveness given by a priest after confession; remission.

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

  • noun the act of being shriven

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, from Old English scrift, from Latin scrīptum, something written, from neuter past participle of scrībere, to write; see shrive.]

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