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Consecrated to sacred uses; sacerdotal; pertaining to priests. Hieratic character, a mode of ancient Egyptian writing; a modified form of hieroglyphics, tending toward a cursive hand and formerly supposed to be the sacerdotal character, as the demotic was supposed to be that of the people. It was a false notion of the…

A sacred character; a character in picture writing, as of the ancient Egyptians, Mexicans, etc. Specifically, in the plural, the picture writing of the ancient Egyptian priests. It is made up of three, or, as some say, four classes of characters: first, the hieroglyphic proper, or figurative, in which the representatio…

A form of sacred or hieratic writing.

Written in, or pertaining to, hierograms; expressive of sacred writing. Bp. Warburton.

Of or pertaining to sacred writing.

Sacred writing. [R.] Bailey.

The worship of saints or sacred things. [R.] Coleridge.

A treatise on sacred things; especially, the science which treats of the ancient writings and inscriptions of the Egyptians, or a treatise on that science.

The sacred secretary or recorder sent by each state belonging to the Amphictyonic Council, along with the deputy or minister. Liddel & Scott.

A receptacle for sacred objects.

A sacred or holy work or worship. [Obs.] Waterland.

Sacredly; inviolably. [R.] Shak.

The state of being hallowed, or consecrated to God or to his worship; sacredness. Israel was holiness unto the Lord. Jer.ii.3. His holiness, a title of the pope; -- formerly given also to Greek bishops and Greek emperors.

Set apart to the service or worship of God; hallowed; sacred; reserved from profane or common use; holy vessels; a holy priesthood. "Holy rites and solemn feasts." Milton.

's birthplace. The disciples went away again to their own home. John xx. 10. Home is the sacred refuge of our life. Dryden. Home! home! sweet, sweet home! There's no place like home. Payne.

he shoulders by the officiating priest or his attendant at Mass, and used to protect the sacred vessels from contact with the hands.

Any strong eager desire. O sacred hunger of ambitious minds! Spenser. For hunger of my gold I die. Dryden.

An ode or song of praise or adoration; especially, a religious ode, a sacred lyric; a song of praise or thankgiving intended to be used in religious service; as, the Homeric hymns; Watts' hymns. Admonishing one another in psalms and hymns. Col. iii. 16. Where angels first should practice hymns, and string Their tuneful…

Relating to hymns, or sacred lyrics. Donne.

The hymns or sacred lyrics composed by authors of a particular country or period; as, the hymnology of the eighteenth century; also, the collective body of hymns used by any particular church or religious body; as, the Anglican hymnology.