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A church solemnity or ceremony celebrated at Rome, at stated intervals, originally of one hundred years, but latterly of twenty- five; a plenary and extraordinary indulgence grated by the sovereign pontiff to the universal church. One invariable condition of granting this indulgence is the confession of sins and receiv…

To observe duty, as a festival, etc. ; to celebrate; to solemnize; as, to keep a feast. I went with them to the house of God . . . with a multitude that kept holyday. Ps. xlii. 4. To keep at arm's length. See under Arm, n. -- To keep back. (a) To reserve; to withhold. "I will keep nothing back from you." Jer. xlii. 4.…

g Arthur. They derived their common title from the table around which they sat on certain solemn days. Brande & C.

w or slowly; -- more so than adagio; next in slowness to grave, which is also weighty and solemn. -- n.

Indulging in, or inclined to, levity; wanting dignity or solemnity; trifling; gay; frivolous; airy; unsubstantial. Seneca can not be too heavy, nor Plautus too light. Shak. Specimens of New England humor laboriously light and lamentably mirthful. Hawthorne.

A solemn form of supplication in the public worship of various churches, in which the clergy and congregation join, the former leading and the latter responding in alternate sentences. It is usually of a penitential character. Supplications . . . for the appeasing of God's wrath were of the Greek church termed litanies…

hat of soldiers moving in order; stately or deliberate walk; steady onward movement. With solemn march Goes slow and stately by them. Shak. This happens merely because men will not bide their time, but will insist on precipitating the march of affairs. Buckle.

ill, or to determine superiority; an emulous struggle. "Many a warlike match." Drayton. A solemn match was made; he lost the prize. Dryden.

hat mode, or scale, in which the third and sixth are minor, -- much used for mournful and solemn subjects. -- Minor orders (Eccl.), the rank of persons employed in ecclesiastical offices who are not in holy orders, as doorkeepers, acolytes, etc. -- Minor scale (Mus.) The form of the minor scale is various. The strict…

A covering for the head, worn on solemn occasions by church dignitaries. It has been made in many forms, the present form being a lofty cap with two points or peaks. Fairholt.

meals is now generally so performed as to look more like a mockery upon devotion than any solemn application of the mind to God. Law. And bear about the mockery of woe. Pope.

To declare publicly or solemnly; to proclaim formally. [Obs.] In whose presence did St. Peter nuncupate it Barrow.

Publicly or solemnly declaratory. [Obs.]

A solemn affirmation or declaration, made with a reverent appeal to God for the truth of what is affirmed. "I have an oath in heaven" Shak. An oath of secrecy for the concealing of those [inventions] which we think fit to keep secret. Bacon.

A funeral solemnity or office; obsequies.

taining to burial; -- now used only in the plural. Spencer. I will...fetch him hence, and solemnly attend, With silent obsequy and funeral train. Milton I will myself Be the chief mourner at his obsequies. Dryden. The funeral obsequies were decently and privately performed by his family J. P. Mahaffy.…

He wolde no such cursedness observe. Chaucer. Must I budge Must I observe you Shak. With solemn purpose to observe Immutably his sovereign will. Milton.

The time between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday wherein marriages were formerly solemnized publicly in churches. [Eng.]

Resembling an oracle in some way, as in solemnity, wisdom, authority, obscurity, ambiguity, dogmatism. They have something venerable and oracular in that unadorned gravity and shortness in the expression. Pope. -- O*rac"u*lar*ly, adv. -- O*rac"u*lar*ness, n.

-- formerly used in the plural, each pipe being considired an organ. The deep, majestic, solemn organs blow. Pope.