Refine this word faster
Vespers
Definitions
- 1 A Christian service held in the late afternoon or early evening; evensong
- 1 The sixth of the seven canonical hours, an evening prayer service plural, plural-only, uncountable
- 2 plural of vesper form-of, plural
- 3 the sixth of the seven canonical hours of the divine office; early evening; now often made a public service on Sundays wordnet
- 4 A massacre euphemistic, uncountable
Etymology
From Middle English vespers, from Old French vespres (French vêpres), from Ecclesiastical Latin vesperae (“vespers”), substantivisation of relational Late Latin vesperus (“evening”), from vesper (“evening”) + -us. Euphemistic use first as Vèpres éphésiennes (“Ephesian Vespers”), coined in 1890 by historian Théodore Reinach by analogy with the Sicilian Vespers.
From Middle English vespers, from Old French vespres (French vêpres), from Ecclesiastical Latin vesperae (“vespers”), substantivisation of relational Late Latin vesperus (“evening”), from vesper (“evening”) + -us. Euphemistic use first as Vèpres éphésiennes (“Ephesian Vespers”), coined in 1890 by historian Théodore Reinach by analogy with the Sicilian Vespers.
See also for "vespers"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: vespers