Maundy
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A commandment. countable, obsolete, uncountable
- 2 a public ceremony on Maundy Thursday when the monarch distributes Maundy money wordnet
- 3 The sacrament of the Lord's supper. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"And also they make their sacrament of the altar of Therf bread, for our Lord made it of such bread, when he made his Maundy."
- 4 The ceremony of washing the feet of poor persons or inferiors, performed as a religious rite on Maundy Thursday in commemoration of Christ's washing the disciples' feet at the Last Supper. countable, uncountable
- 5 The office appointed to be read during the religious ceremony of foot-washing. countable, uncountable
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"And also they make their sacrament of the altar of Therf bread, for our Lord made it of such bread, when he made his Maundy."
Etymology
From Middle English maundee, maunde, from Old French mandée (“mandated”), from Latin mandatum (“commandment”). Doublet of mandate. The word came to refer to the foot-washing ceremony performed on Thursday before Easter because of the phrase used by Jesus to explain his act of foot-washing, which in the Latin Vulgate begins: Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem ..., i.e. "A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another …" (John 13:34).
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.