Part 870

Holt, n. [AS. holt; akin to LG. holt, D. hout, G. holz. Icel. holt; cf Gael. & Ir. coill wood, Gr. &?; branch, shoot.] 1. A piece of woodland; especially, a woody hill. "Every holt and heath." Chaucer.

She sent her voice though all the holt Before her, and the park.

Tennyson.

2. A deep hole in a river where there is protection for fish; also, a cover, a hole, or hiding place. " The fox has gone to holt." C. Kingsley.

Hol"we (?), a. Hollow. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Ho"ly (?), a. [Compar. Holier (?); superl. Holiest.] [OE. holi, hali, AS. hlig, fr. hÊl health, salvation, happiness, fr. hl whole, well; akin to OS. h&?;lag, D. & G. heilig, OHG. heilac, Dan. hellig, Sw. helig, Icel. heilagr. See Whole, and cf. Halibut, Halidom, Hallow, Hollyhock.] 1. Set apart to the service or worship of God; hallowed; sacred; reserved from profane or common use; holy vessels; a holy priesthood. "Holy rites and solemn feasts." Milton.

2. Spiritually whole or sound; of unimpaired innocence and virtue; free from sinful affections; pure in heart; godly; pious; irreproachable; guiltless; acceptable to God.

Now through her round of holy thought The Church our annual steps has brought.

Keble.

Holy Alliance (Hist.), a league ostensibly for conserving religion, justice, and peace in Europe, but really for repressing popular tendencies toward constitutional government, entered into by Alexander I. of Russia, Francis I. of Austria, and Frederic William III. of Prussia, at Paris, on the 26th of September, 1815, and subsequently joined by all the sovereigns of Europe, except the pope and the king of England. -- Holy bark. See Cascara sagrada. -- Holy Communion. See Eucharist. -- Holy family (Art), a picture in which the infant Christ, his parents, and others of his family are represented. - - Holy Father, a title of the pope. -- Holy Ghost (Theol.),the third person of the Trinity; the Comforter; the Paraclete. -- Holy Grail. See Grail. -- Holy grass (Bot.), a sweet-scented grass (Hierochloa borealis and H. alpina). In the north of Europe it was formerly strewed before church doors on saints' days; whence the name. It is common in the northern and western parts of the United States. Called also vanilla, or Seneca, grass. -- Holy Innocents' day, Childermas day. -- Holy Land, Palestine, the birthplace of Christianity. -- Holy office, the Inquisition. -- Holy of holies (Script.), the innermost apartment of the Jewish tabernacle or temple, where the ark was kept, and where no person entered, except the high priest once a year. -- Holy One. (a) The Supreme Being; -- so called by way of emphasis. " The Holy One of Israel." Is. xliii. 14. (b) One separated to the service of God. -- Holy orders. See Order. -- Holy rood, the cross or crucifix, particularly one placed, in churches. over the entrance to the chancel. -- Holy rope, a plant, the hemp agrimony. -- Holy Saturday (Eccl.), the Saturday immediately preceding the festival of Easter; the vigil of Easter. -- Holy Spirit, same as Holy Ghost (above). -- Holy Spirit plant. See Dove plant. -- Holy thistle (Bot.), the blessed thistle. See under Thistle. -- Holy Thursday. (Eccl.) (a) (Episcopal Ch.) Ascension day. (b) (R. C. Ch.) The Thursday in Holy Week; Maundy Thursday. -- Holy war, a crusade; an expedition carried on by Christians against the Saracens in the Holy Land, in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, for the possession of the holy places. -- Holy water (Gr. & R. C. Churches), water which has been blessed by the priest for sacred purposes. -- Holy-water stoup, the stone stoup or font placed near the entrance of a church, as a receptacle for holy water. -- Holy Week (Eccl.), the week before Easter, in which the passion of our Savior is commemorated. -- Holy writ, the sacred Scriptures. " Word of holy writ." Wordsworth.

Ho"ly cross" (?; 115). The cross as the symbol of Christ's crucifixion.

Congregation of the Holy Cross (R. C. Ch.), a community of lay brothers and priests, in France and the United States, engaged chiefly in teaching and manual Labor. Originally called Brethren of St. Joseph. The Sisters of the Holy Cross engage in similar work. Addis & Arnold. -- Holy-cross day, the fourteenth of September, observed as a church festival, in memory of the exaltation of our Savior's cross.

Ho"ly*day` (?), n. 1. A religious festival.

2. A secular festival; a holiday.

Holiday is the preferable and prevailing spelling in the second sense. The spelling holy day or holyday in often used in the first sense.

Ho"ly*stone` (?), n. (Naut.) A stone used by seamen for scrubbing the decks of ships. Totten.

Ho"ly*stone`, v. t. (Naut.) To scrub with a holystone, as the deck of a vessel.

Hom"a*canth (?), a. [Homo + Gr. &?; a spine.] (Zoˆl.) Having the dorsal fin spines symmetrical, and in the same line; -- said of certain fishes.

Hom"age (?), n. [OF. homage, homenage, F. hommage, LL. hominaticum, homenaticum, from L. homo a man, LL. also, a client, servant, vassal; akin to L. humus earth, Gr.&?; on the ground, and E. groom in bridegroom. Cf. Bridegroom, Human.] 1. (Feud. Law) A symbolical acknowledgment made by a feudal tenant to, and in the presence of, his lord, on receiving investiture of fee, or coming to it by succession, that he was his man, or vassal; profession of fealty to a sovereign.

2. Respect or reverential regard; deference; especially, respect paid by external action; obeisance.

All things in heaven and earth do her homage.

Hooker.

I sought no homage from the race that write.

Pope.

3. Reverence directed to the Supreme Being; reverential worship; devout affection. Chaucer.

Syn. -- Fealty; submission; reverence; honor; respect. -- Homage, Fealty. Homage was originally the act of a feudal tenant by which he declared himself, on his knees, to be the hommage or bondman of the lord; hence the term is used to denote reverential submission or respect. Fealty was originally the fidelity of such a tenant to his lord, and hence the term denotes a faithful and solemn adherence to the obligations we owe to superior power or authority. We pay our homage to men of preÎminent usefulness and virtue, and profess our fealty to the principles by which they have been guided.

Go, go with homage yon proud victors meet ! Go, lie like dogs beneath your masters' feet !

Dryden.