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The act of violating sacred things, or of treating them with contempt or irreverence; irreverent or too familiar treatment or use of what is sacred; desecration; as, the profanation of the Sabbath; the profanation of a sanctuary; the profanation of the name of God.

To violate, as anything sacred; to treat with abuse, irreverence, obloquy, or contempt; to desecrate; to pollute; as, to profane the name of God; to profane the Scriptures, or the ordinance of God. The priests in the temple profane the sabbath. Matt. xii. 5.

To violate concord or agreement; to have a difference; to fall out; to be or become antagonistic. Our people quarrel with obedience. Shak. But some defect in her Did quarrel with the noblest grace she owed. Shak.

To violate; to ravish; to defiour. [Obs.] Rich spoil of ransacked chastity. Spenser.

Hence, to rescue and deliver from the bondage of sin and the penalties of God's violated law. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Gal. iii. 13.

To fail to follow suit when holding a card of the suit led, in violation of the rule of the game; to renege. Hoyle.

Opprobriously, a leader of a body of men engaged in the violation of law or in an illegal enterprise, as rioters, mutineers, or the like. The ringleaders were apprehended, tried, fined, and imprisoned. Macaulay.

With that violation of law called a rout. See 5th Rout, 4.

, or the like. Peaceful sleep out the sabbath of the tomb. Pope. Sabbath breaker, one who violates the law of the Sabbath. -- Sabbath breaking, the violation of the law of the Sabbath. -- Sabbath-day's journey, a distance of about a mile, which, under Rabbinical law, the Jews were allowed to travel on the Sabbath.…

Hence, not to be profaned or violated; inviolable. Secrets of marriage still are sacred held. Dryden.

The sin or crime of violating or profaning sacred things; the alienating to laymen, or to common purposes, what has been appropriated or consecrated to religious persons or uses. And the hid treasures in her sacred tomb With sacrilege to dig. Spenser. Families raised upon the ruins of churches, and enriched with the sp…

Violating sacred things; polluted with sacrilege; involving sacrilege; profane; impious. Above the reach of sacrilegious hands. pope. -- Sac`ri*le"gious*ly, adv. -- Sac`ri*le"gious*ness, n.

Sacred; inviolable. [R.] Dr. H. More.

uted in 1776 by Col. St. Leger. -- Saint Martin's herb (Bot.), a small tropical American violaceous plant (Sauvagesia erecta). It is very mucilaginous and is used in medicine.

To impart or impute sacredness, venerableness, inviolability, title to reverence and respect, or the like, to; to secure from violation; to give sanction to. The holy man, amazed at what he saw, Made haste to sanctify the bliss by law. Dryden. Truth guards the poet, sanctifies the line. Pope.

Sacredness; solemnity; inviolability; religious binding force; as, the sanctity of an oath.

A sacred place; a consecrated spot; a holy and inviolable site. Hence, specifically:

Transgression of the law of God; disobedience of the divine command; any violation of God's will, either in purpose or conduct; moral deficiency in the character; iniquity; as, sins of omission and sins of commission. Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. John viii. 34. Sin is the transgression of the law. 1…

Whole; perfect; unhurt; uninjured. [Obs.] The inviolable body stood sincere. Dryden.

To import or export in violation of the customs laws.