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berries. It is an attribute of Bacchus, and of the satyrs and others engaging in Bacchic rites. A good to grow on graves As twist about a thyrsus. Mrs. Browning. In my hand I bear The thyrsus, tipped with fragrant cones of pine. Longfellow.

border, worn by children of both sexes, by magistrates, and by persons engaged in sacred rites. -- Toga virilis Etym: [L.], the manly gown; the common toga. This was assumed by Roman boys about the time of completing their fourteenth year.

The unwritten or oral delivery of information, opinions, doctrines, practices, rites, and customs, from father to son, or from ancestors to posterity; the transmission of any knowledge, opinions, or practice, from forefathers to descendants by oral communication, without written memorials.

ance, consonance, or agreement; as, the uniformity of different churches in ceremonies or rites. Act of Uniformity (Eng. Hist.), an act of Parliament, passed in 1661, prescribing the form of public prayers, administration of sacraments, and other rites of the Established Church of England. Its provisions were modified…

g no questions asked; not examined or examined into. Shak. She muttering prayers, as holy rites she meant, Through the divided crowd unquestioned went. Dryden.

To deprive of sacramental character or efficacy; as, to unsacrament the rite of baptism. [Obs.]

To strew with verbena, or vervain, as in ancient sacrifices and rites.

s; a vesture; a robe. In state attended by her maiden train, Who bore the vests that holy rites require. Dryden.

A living being sacrificed to some deity, or in the performance of a religious rite; a creature immolated, or made an offering of. Led like a victim, to my death I'll go. Dryden.

superstition and sorcery, said to include human sacrifices and cannibalism in some of its rites. It is prevalent among the negroes of Hayti, and to some extent in the United States, and is regarded as a relic of African barbarism.

Fully known; generally known or acknowledged. A church well known with a well-known rite. M. Arnold.

Annually; once a year to year; as, blessings yearly bestowed. Yearly will I do this rite. Shak.

The rite or ceremonial observed by one of the Masonic systems, deriving its name from the city of York, in England; also, the system itself, which, in England, confers only the first three degrees.