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te or quality of being sacred or holy; holiness; saintliness; moral purity; godliness. To sanctity she made no pretense, and, indeed, narrowly escaped the imputation of irreligion. Macaulay.

ring that a deceased person is one of "the blessed," or has attained the second degree of sanctity, -- usually a stage in the process of canonization. "The beatification of his spirit." Jer. Taylor.

brute creation. A creature . . . not prone And brute as other creatures, but endued With sanctity of reason. Milton.

o divest of a sacred character or office; to divert from a sacred purpose; to violate the sanctity of; to profane; to put to an unworthy use; -- the opposite of consecrate. The [Russian] clergy can not suffer corporal punishment without being previously desecrated. W. Tooke. The founders of monasteries imprecated evil…

rved, by God's appointment, but for a time, to shadow out the true glory of a more divine sanctity. Hooker.

An emanation of light supposed to proceed from beings of peculiar sanctity. It is represented in art by rays of gold, or the like, proceeding from the head or body, or by a disk, or a mere line.

Holiness; sanctity; sacred oath; sacred things; sanctuary; -- used chiefly in oaths. [Archaic] So God me help and halidom. Piers Plowman. By my halidom, I was fast asleep. Shak.

Piously; with sanctity; in a holy manner.

The state or quality of being holy; perfect moral integrity or purity; freedom from sin; sanctity; innocence. Who is like thee, glorious in holiness! Ex. xv. 11.

tes and ceremonies and of the traditions of the elders, and whose pretensions to superior sanctity led them to separate themselves from the other Jews.

Not sacred or holy; not possessing peculiar sanctity; unconsecrated; hence, relating to matters other than sacred; secular; -- opposed to sacred, religious, or inspired; as, a profane place. "Profane authors." I. Disraeli. The profane wreath was suspended before the shrine. Gibbon.

. Dryden. The church [if defiled] is interdicted till it be reconciled [i.e., restored to sanctity] by the bishop. Chaucer. We pray you . . . be ye reconciled to God. 2 Cor. v. 20.

To pay respect to; to treat as something of peculiar value, sanctity, or the like; to care for; to esteem. He that regardeth thae day, regardeth it into the LOrd. Rom. xiv. 6. Here's Beaufort, that regards nor God nor king. Shak.

Made holy; also, made to have the air of sanctity; sanctimonious.

Making a show of sanctity; affecting saintliness; hypocritically devout or pious. "Like the sanctimonious pirate." Shak. -- Sanc`ti*mo"ni*ous*ly, adv. -- Sanc`ti*mo"ni*ous*ness, n.

Holiness; devoutness; scrupulous austerity; sanctity; especially, outward or artificial saintliness; assumed or pretended holiness; hypocritical devoutness. Her pretense is a pilgrimage; . . . which holy undertaking with most austere sanctimony she accomplished. Shak.

Holiness; sacredness; sanctity. [R.] milton.

To render not sacred; to deprive of sanctity; to desecrate. [Obs.] South.

To deprive of saintship; to deny sanctity to. [R.] South.

lumed crest! Shak. Without vailing his bonnet or testifying any reverence for the alleged sanctity of the relic. Sir. W. Scott.