The meaning of Psalm

noun

A rousing or uplifting song identified with a particular group, body, or cause.

Usage examples:

The song became the anthem for hippy activists

noun

A song that has special importance for a particular group of people or country, often sung on special occasions

noun

(in traditional western christian liturgy) a short sentence sung or recited before or after a psalm or canticle.

Usage examples:

The way the monks moved echoed the antiphons of the psalms themselves.

noun

A hymn or chant, typically with a biblical text, forming a regular part of a church service.

Usage examples:

Subtitled ‘overture on liturgical themes,’ it is based on the obikhod, a collection of russian orth…

noun

A religious folk song or popular hymn, particularly one associated with christmas.

Usage examples:

We sang carols by candlelight

verb

Sing or say (something) happily.

Usage examples:

She was cheerfully carolling the words of the song

noun

A christmas carol

Usage examples:

We went caroling in the neighborhood.

noun

A repeated rhythmic phrase, typically one shouted or sung in unison by a crowd.

Usage examples:

A group of young people set up a chant of ‘why are we waiting?’

verb

Say or shout repeatedly in a sing-song tone.

Usage examples:

Protesters were chanting slogans

noun

A religious song or poem of praise to god or a god.

Usage examples:

A hellenistic hymn to apollo

verb

Praise (something).

Usage examples:

The joys of domesticity were being hymned in magazines

noun

A psalm or antiphon sung or said while the priest approaches the altar for the eucharist.

Usage examples:

Not just settings of the ordinary, but the copious amounts of plainchant needed to cover all the pr…

verb

Put (something) down gently or carefully.

Usage examples:

She laid the baby in his cot

noun

Used with an abstract noun so that the phrase formed has the same meaning as the verb related to the noun used, e.g. ‘lay the blame on’ means ‘to blame’.

Usage examples:

She laid great stress on little courtesies

adjective

Not ordained into or belonging to the clergy.

Usage examples:

A lay preacher

noun

A psalm in which mercy is sought, especially psalm 51 or the music written for it.

noun

A song of praise or triumph.

Usage examples:

A paean of praise for the great poets

noun

A song, film, or piece of writing that praises someone or something very enthusiastically

Usage examples:

The song is a paean to solitude and independence.

noun

Unaccompanied church music sung in unison in medieval modes and in free rhythm corresponding to the accentuation of the words, which are taken from the liturgy.

Usage examples:

Melody, harmony, and rhythm became as important to music as plainsong and counterpoint, and the art…

noun

A type of simple group singing without instruments, used in the christian church

noun

A solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to god or another deity.

Usage examples:

I'll say a prayer for him

noun

The act or ceremony of speaking to god or a god, esp. to express thanks or to ask for help, or the words used in this act

Usage examples:

[ c ] an evening prayer, [ c ] a prayer of thanks, [ u ] she knelt in prayer.

noun

The singing of psalms or similar sacred canticles, especially in public worship.

Usage examples:

Psalmody is common to all the churches and is acceptable in those few churches where hymns are not

noun

The book of psalms.

Usage examples:

Psalters and hymn books