Sacred

6 definitions found

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

  Sacred \Sa"cred\, a. [Originally p. p. of OE. sacren to
     consecrate, F. sacrer, fr. L. sacrare, fr. sacer sacred,
     holy, cursed. Cf. {Consecrate}, {Execrate}, {Saint},
     {Sexton}.]
     1. Set apart by solemn religious ceremony; especially, in a
        good sense, made holy; set apart to religious use;


        consecrated; not profane or common; as, a sacred place; a
        sacred day; sacred service.
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     2. Relating to religion, or to the services of religion; not
        secular; religious; as, sacred history.
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              Smit with the love of sacred song.    --Milton.
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     3. Designated or exalted by a divine sanction; possessing the
        highest title to obedience, honor, reverence, or
        veneration; entitled to extreme reverence; venerable.
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              Such neighbor nearness to our sacred [royal] blood
              Should nothing privilege him.         --Shak.
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              Poet and saint to thee alone were given,
              The two most sacred names of earth and heaven.
                                                    --Cowley.
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     4. Hence, not to be profaned or violated; inviolable.
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              Secrets of marriage still are sacred held. --Dryden.
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     5. Consecrated; dedicated; devoted; -- with to.
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              A temple, sacred to the queen of love. --Dryden.
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     6. Solemnly devoted, in a bad sense, as to evil, vengeance,
        curse, or the like; accursed; baleful. [Archaic]
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              But, to destruction sacred and devote. --Milton.
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     {Society of the Sacred Heart} (R.C. Ch.), a religious order
        of women, founded in France in 1800, and approved in 1826.
        It was introduced into America in 1817. The members of the
        order devote themselves to the higher branches of female
        education.
  
     {Sacred baboon}. (Zool.) See {Hamadryas}.
  
     {Sacred bean} (Bot.), a seed of the Oriental lotus ({Nelumbo
        speciosa} or {Nelumbium speciosum}), a plant resembling a
        water lily; also, the plant itself. See {Lotus}.
  
     {Sacred beetle} (Zool.) See {Scarab}.
  
     {Sacred canon}. See {Canon}, n., 3.
  
     {Sacred fish} (Zool.), any one of numerous species of
        fresh-water African fishes of the family {Mormyridae}.
        Several large species inhabit the Nile and were considered
        sacred by the ancient Egyptians; especially {Mormyrus
        oxyrhynchus}.
  
     {Sacred ibis}. See {Ibis}.
  
     {Sacred monkey}. (Zool.)
        (a) Any Asiatic monkey of the genus {Semnopithecus},
            regarded as sacred by the Hindoos; especially, the
            entellus. See {Entellus}.
        (b) The sacred baboon. See {Hamadryas}.
        (c) The bhunder, or rhesus monkey.
  
     {Sacred place} (Civil Law), the place where a deceased person
        is buried.
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     Syn: Holy; divine; hallowed; consecrated; dedicated; devoted;
          religious; venerable; reverend.
          [1913 Webster] -- {Sa"cred*ly}, adv. -- {Sa"cred*ness},
          n.
          [1913 Webster] Sacrific

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  sacred
       adj 1: concerned with religion or religious purposes; "sacred
              texts"; "sacred rites"; "sacred music" [ant: {profane}]
       2: worthy of respect or dedication; "saw motherhood as woman's
          sacred calling"
       3: made or declared or believed to be holy; devoted to a deity
          or some religious ceremony or use; "a consecrated chursh";
          "the sacred mosque"; "sacred elephants"; "sacred bread and
          wine"; "sanctified wine" [syn: {consecrated}, {sanctified}]
       4: worthy of religious veneration; "the sacred name of Jesus";
          "Jerusalem's hallowed soil" [syn: {hallowed}]
       5: (often followed by `to') devoted exclusively to a single use
          or purpose or person; "a fund sacred to charity"; "a
          morning hour sacred to study"; "a private office sacred to
          the President"

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

  114 Moby Thesaurus words for "sacred":
     all-knowing, all-powerful, all-seeing, all-wise, almighty, alto,
     angelic, awe-inspiring, awesome, awful, baritone, bass, blessed,
     boundless, bravura, ceremonial, changeless, cherished, choral,
     choric, churchly, coloratura, consecrated, creating, creative,
     dedicated, defended, divine, dramatic, ecclesiastical, eternal,
     eternally the same, everlasting, falsetto, glorious, godly, good,
     guarded, hallowed, heavenly, heroic, hieratic, highest, holy,
     hymnal, immortal, immune, immutable, ineffable, inenarrable,
     inexpressible, infinite, inviolable, inviolate, just, limitless,
     liturgical, loving, luminous, lyric, majestic, making, merciful,
     numinous, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, one, operatic,
     permanent, perpetual, priestly, protected, psalmic, psalmodial,
     psalmodic, radiant, religious, revered, ritual, sacramental,
     sacrosanct, sainted, saintly, sanctified, shaping, shielded,
     singing, solemn, soprano, sovereign, spiritual, supreme, tenor,
     the holy, the ineffable, the inenarrable, the inexpressible,
     the numinous, the unspeakable, the unutterable, timeless, treble,
     ubiquitous, unbounded, unchanging, undefined, unlimited,
     unspeakable, untouchable, unutterable, venerable, venerated,
     vocal
  
  

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  sacred adj. Reserved for the exclusive use of something (an extension
     of the standard meaning). Often means that anyone may look at the sacred
     object, but clobbering it will screw whatever it is sacred to. The
     comment "Register 7 is sacred to the interrupt handler" appearing in a
     program would be interpreted by a hacker to mean that if any _other_
     part of the program changes the contents of register 7, dire
     consequences are likely to ensue.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  sacred
       
           Reserved for exclusive use by something.  The term
          might mean only writable by whatever it is sacred to.
       
          For example, "Register 7 is sacred to the interrupt handler"
          would mean that if any other code changed the contents of
          register 7, dire consequences would ensue.
       
          [{Jargon File}]
       
          (2002-12-30)
       
       

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  SACRED, adj.  Dedicated to some religious purpose; having a divine
  character; inspiring solemn thoughts or emotions; as, the Dalai Lama
  of Thibet; the Moogum of M'bwango; the temple of Apes in Ceylon; the
  Cow in India; the Crocodile, the Cat and the Onion of ancient Egypt;
  the Mufti of Moosh; the hair of the dog that bit Noah, etc.
  
      All things are either sacred or profane.
      The former to ecclesiasts bring gain;
      The latter to the devil appertain.
                                                         Dumbo Omohundro