Salutation

4 definitions found

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

  Salutation \Sal`u*ta"tion\, n. [L. salutatio: cf. F. salutation.
     See {Salute}.]
     The act of saluting, or paying respect or reverence, by the
     customary words or actions; the act of greeting, or
     expressing good will or courtesy; also, that which is uttered
     or done in saluting or greeting.


     [1913 Webster]
  
           In all public meetings or private addresses, use those
           forms of salutation, reverence, and decency usual
           amongst the most sober persons.          --Jer. Taylor.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Greeting; salute; address.
  
     Usage: {Salutation}, {Greeting}, {Salute}. Greeting is the
            general word for all manner of expressions of
            recognition, agreeable or otherwise, made when persons
            meet or communicate with each other. A greeting may be
            hearty and loving, chilling and offensive, or merely
            formal, as in the opening sentence of legal documents.
            Salutation more definitely implies a wishing well, and
            is used of expressions at parting as well as at
            meeting. It is used especially of uttered expressions
            of good will. Salute, while formerly and sometimes
            still in the sense of either greeting or salutation,
            is now used specifically to denote a conventional
            demonstration not expressed in words. The guests
            received a greeting which relieved their
            embarrassment, offered their salutations in
            well-chosen terms, and when they retired, as when they
            entered, made a deferential salute.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the
                  uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings
                  in the markets.                   --Luke xi. 43.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  When Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the
                  babe leaped in her womb.          --Luke i. 41.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  I shall not trouble my reader with the first
                  salutes of our three friends.     --Addison.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  salutation
       n 1: an act of honor or courteous recognition; "a musical salute
            to the composer on his birthday" [syn: {salute}]
       2: (usually plural) an acknowledgment or expression of good
          will (especially on meeting) [syn: {greeting}]
       3: word of greeting used to begin a letter

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

  44 Moby Thesaurus words for "salutation":
     accost, address, bend, bending the knee, bob, bow,
     bowing and scraping, citation, curtsy, dipping the colors, embrace,
     eulogy, genuflection, greeting, hail, hand-clasp, handshake, hello,
     homage, how-do-you-do, hug, inclination, kiss, kneeling, kowtow,
     making a leg, nod, obeisance, obsequiousness, panegyric,
     presenting arms, prostration, reverence, salaam, salute, scrape,
     servility, smile, smile of recognition, standing at attention,
     submission, submissiveness, tribute, wave
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Salutation
     "Eastern modes of salutation are not unfrequently so prolonged
     as to become wearisome and a positive waste of time. The
     profusely polite Arab asks so many questions after your health,
     your happiness, your welfare, your house, and other things, that
     a person ignorant of the habits of the country would imagine
     there must be some secret ailment or mysterious sorrow
     oppressing you, which you wished to conceal, so as to spare the
     feelings of a dear, sympathizing friend, but which he, in the
     depth of his anxiety, would desire to hear of. I have often
     listened to these prolonged salutations in the house, the
     street, and the highway, and not unfrequently I have experienced
     their tedious monotony, and I have bitterly lamented useless
     waste of time" (Porter, Through Samaria, etc.). The work on
     which the disciples were sent forth was one of urgency, which
     left no time for empty compliments and prolonged greetings (Luke
     10:4).