benediction

plural benedictions

1. countableuncountableA short invocation for help, blessing and guidance from God, said on behalf of another person or persons (sometimes at the end of a church worship service).

   a parting benediction

   5 more examples

   to pronounce / give / say the benediction

   the nuptial benediction

   O, look upon me, sir, And hold your hands in benediction o’er me.

   c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii]

   So saying, he [the angel] arose; whom Adam thus Follow’d with benediction.

   1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 1281-1282

   My pen (its last scrawl a benediction on my beloved) dropt from my fingers;

   1748, [Samuel Richardson], chapter 50, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume IV, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 290

   Synonyms: blessing

2. countableuncountableIn the Anglican church, the ceremony used to institute an abbot, analogous to the consecration of a bishop.

   What Consecration is to a Bishop, that Benediction is to an Abbot; but in a different way: For a Bishop is not properly such till Consecration; but an Abbot being elected and confirm’d, is properly such before Benediction.

   1726, John Ayliffe, “Of Abbots, Priors, Abbies, Priories, &c.”, in Parergon juris canonici anglicani: or, A commentary, by way of supplement to the canons and constitutions of the Church of England, London: for the author, page 13

3. countableuncountableA Roman Catholic rite by which bells, banners, candles, etc., are blessed with holy water and formally dedicated to God.

   [He] later liked to attend benediction in the chapel at Brideshead and see the ladies of the family with their necks arched in devotion under their black lace mantillas; […]

   1945, Evelyn Waugh, chapter 5, in Brideshead Revisited […], London: Chapman & Hall, published 1952, →OCLC, book 1 (Et in Arcadia Ego), page 98

4. countableuncountableHelp, good fortune or reward from God or another supernatural source.

   Homeward serenely she walked with God’s benediction upon her.

   1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, →OCLC, part I

   1 more example

   […] they throng who should buy first, as if my trinkets had been hallowed and brought a benediction to the buyer:

   c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act XIV, scene iv]

   Synonyms: blessing, grace