- Whitsunday
- 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]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.