Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Sacred

Sa′cred, a. [Originally p. p. of OE. sacren to consecrate, F. sacrer, fr. L. sacrare, fr. sacer sacred, holy, cursed. Cf. Consecrate, Execrate, Saint, Sexton.] 1. Set apart by solemn religious ceremony; especially, in a good sense, made holy; set apart to religious use; consecrated; not profane or common; as, a sacred place; a sacred day; sacred service.

2. Relating to religion, or to the services of religion; not secular; religious; as, sacred history.

Smit with the love of sacred song. Milton.

3. Designated or exalted by a divine sanction; possessing the highest title to obedience, honor, reverence, or veneration; entitled to extreme reverence; venerable.

Such neighbor nearness to our sacred [royal] blood Should nothing privilege him. Shak.

Poet and saint to thee alone were given, The two most sacred names of earth and heaven. Cowley.

4. Hence, not to be profaned or violated; inviolable.

Secrets of marriage still are sacred held. Dryden.

5. Consecrated; dedicated; devoted; — with to.

A temple, sacred to the queen of love. Dryden.

6. Solemnly devoted, in a bad sense, as to evil, vengeance, curse, or the like; accursed; baleful. [Archaic]

But, to destruction sacred and devote. Milton.

Society of the Sacred Heart (R.C. Ch.), a religious order of women, founded in France in 1800, and approved in 1826. It was introduced into America in 1817. The members of the order devote themselves to the higher branches of female education. — Sacred baboon. (Zoöl.) See Hamadryas. — Sacred bean (Bot.), a seed of the Oriental lotus (Nelumbo speciosa or Nelumbium speciosum), a plant resembling a water lily; also, the plant itself. See Lotus. — Sacred beetle (Zoöl.) See Scarab. — Sacred canon. See Canon, n., 3. - - Sacred fish (Zoöl.), any one of numerous species of fresh-water African fishes of the family Mormyridæ. Several large species inhabit the Nile and were considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians; especially Mormyrus oxyrhynchus. — Sacred ibis. See Ibis. — Sacred monkey. (Zoöl.) (a) Any Asiatic monkey of the genus Semnopithecus, regarded as sacred by the Hindoos; especially, the entellus. See Entellus. (b) The sacred baboon. See Hamadryas. (c) The bhunder, or rhesus monkey. — Sacred place (Civil Law), the place where a deceased person is buried.

Syn. — Holy; divine; hallowed; consecrated; dedicated; devoted; religious; venerable; reverend.

— Sa′cred·ly (#), adv. — Sa′cred·ness, n.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.