Pentecost

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Pentecost \Pen"te*cost\, n. [L. pentecoste, Gr. ? (sc. ?) the
     fiftieth day, Pentecost, fr. ? fiftieth, fr. ? fifty, fr. ?
     five. See {Five}, and cf. {Pingster}.]
     1. A solemn festival of the Jews; -- so called because
        celebrated on the fiftieth day (seven weeks) after the
        second day of the Passover (which fell on the sixteenth of


        the Jewish month Nisan); -- hence called, also, the {Feast
        of Weeks}. At this festival an offering of the first
        fruits of the harvest was made. By the Jews it was
        generally regarded as commemorative of the gift of the law
        on the fiftieth day after the departure from Egypt.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A festival of the Roman Catholic and other churches in
        commemoration of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the
        apostles; which occurred on the day of Pentecost; --
        called also {Whitsunday}. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  Pentecost
       n 1: seventh Sunday after Easter; commemorates the emanation of
            the Holy Spirit to the apostles; a quarter day in
            Scotland [syn: {Whitsunday}]
       2: (Judaism) Jewish holy day celebrated on the sixth of Sivan
          to celebrate Moses receiving the Ten Commandments [syn: {Shavous},
           {Shabuoth}, {Shavuoth}, {Shavuot}, {Feast of Weeks}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  70 Moby Thesaurus words for "Pentecost":
     Advent, Allhallowmas, Allhallows, Allhallowtide, Annunciation,
     Annunciation Day, Ascension Day, Ash Wednesday, Candlemas,
     Candlemas Day, Carnival, Christmas, Corpus Christi,
     Day of Atonement, Easter, Easter Monday, Easter Saturday,
     Easter Sunday, Eastertide, Ember days, Epiphany, Fast of Av,
     Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of Weeks, Good Friday, Halloween,
     Hallowmas, Hanukkah, High Holy Days, Holy Thursday, Holy Week,
     Lady Day, Lammas, Lammas Day, Lammastide, Lent, Lententide,
     Mardi Gras, Martinmas, Maundy Thursday, Michaelmas, Michaelmas Day,
     Michaelmastide, New Year, Ninth of Av, Palm Sunday, Pancake Day,
     Passion Week, Passover, Pesach, Purim, Quadragesima,
     Quadragesima Sunday, Rosh Hashanah, Septuagesima, Shabuoth,
     Shrove Tuesday, Simhath Torah, Sukkoth, Trinity Sunday,
     Twelfth-day, Twelfth-tide, Whit-Tuesday, White Sunday, Whitmonday,
     Whitsun, Whitsunday, Whitsuntide, Whitweek, Yom Kippur
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Pentecost
     i.e., "fiftieth", found only in the New Testament (Acts 2:1;
     20:16; 1 Cor. 16:8). The festival so named is first spoken of in
     Ex. 23:16 as "the feast of harvest," and again in Ex. 34:22 as
     "the day of the firstfruits" (Num. 28:26). From the sixteenth of
     the month of Nisan (the second day of the Passover), seven
     complete weeks, i.e., forty-nine days, were to be reckoned, and
     this feast was held on the fiftieth day. The manner in which it
     was to be kept is described in Lev. 23:15-19; Num. 28:27-29.
     Besides the sacrifices prescribed for the occasion, every one
     was to bring to the Lord his "tribute of a free-will offering"
     (Deut. 16:9-11). The purpose of this feast was to commemorate
     the completion of the grain harvest. Its distinguishing feature
     was the offering of "two leavened loaves" made from the new corn
     of the completed harvest, which, with two lambs, were waved
     before the Lord as a thank offering.
     
       The day of Pentecost is noted in the Christian Church as the
     day on which the Spirit descended upon the apostles, and on
     which, under Peter's preaching, so many thousands were converted
     in Jerusalem (Acts 2).
     

From Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's) [hitchcock]:

  Pentecost, fiftieth