piety
(ˈpaɪɪtɪ)
Forms: 4 (6 Sc.) piete, 5–7 pietie, 7– piety.
[a. OF. piete (12th cent.), ad. L. pietās dutifulness, piety, f. pius pious. (The popular form in Fr. was pité pity.)]
I. † 1. An early form of pity, in various senses.
| a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. xxx. 89 For he that dude is body on tre, Of oure sunnes have piete. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xii. 268 Paul þe apostel, þat no pite [MS. I piete] hadde cristene peuple to culle. 1533 Bellenden Livy iii. xix. (S.T.S.) II. 26 Virgineus petuislie praying þame to haue piete erare of him and his dochter, þan to haue ony piete of þe Claudianis. 1548–9 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Commination, Thou art a mercifull God..and of a great pietie. 1606 Holland Sueton. 266 Of your gracious Piety (which I know I shall hardly obtaine). |
II. The quality or character of being pious.
2. Habitual reverence and obedience to God (or the gods); devotion to religious duties and observances; godliness, devoutness, religiousness.
| 1604 R. Cawdrey Table Alph., Pietie, godlinesse, holines. 1605 Camden Rem., Epigr. 10 A woman of rare pietie. 1696 Phillips (ed. 5), Piety, a Moral vertue which causes us to have an affection and esteem for God and Holy Things. 1742 Young Nt. Th. viii. 691 ‘Is virtue, then, and piety the same?’—No; piety is more; 'tis virtue's source. 1781 Cowper Truth 176 True piety is cheerful as the day. 1875 Manning Mission H. Ghost xi. 295 Piety is the filial affection of the sons of God. 1877 E. R. Conder Bas. Faith i. 19 ‘Piety’, says Cicero, ‘is justice towards the gods’. |
3. Faithfulness to the duties naturally owed to parents and relatives, superiors, etc.; dutifulness; affectionate loyalty and respect, esp. to parents.
| 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 103 Ah Lucilla, thou knowest not the care of a father, nor the duetie of a childe, and as farre art thou from pietie as I from crueltie. 1580 Ibid. 338 If she be voyd of pitie, why shoulde I not be voyde of pietie? 1611 Bible 1 Tim. v. 4 Let them learne first to shew pietie at home, and to requite their parents. a 1634 Chapman Revenge for Hon. Plays 1873 III. 309 Though he could put off paternal pietie, 't gives no priviledg for us to wander from our filial dutie. 1656 Stanley Hist. Philos. vi. (1701) 228/1 Her Picture, Aristotle, in piety to her [his mother's] Memory, caused to be made by Protogenes. 1729 Swift Libel on Dr. Delany 77 Pope..Whose filial piety excels Whatever Grecian story tells. 1857 [see filial 1 a]. 1875 Manning Mission H. Ghost ix. 230 The word piety in its original meaning signifies the natural affection which parents have for their children and children for their parents. |
† b. Our Lady (of) Piety: the Virgin Mary represented with the dead body of Christ on her lap: cf. Pietà. Obs.
| 1542 Inv. R. Wardrobe (1815) 58 Ane antepend of blak velvot broderrit with ane image of our Lady pietie upoun the samyne. c 1600 Rites of Durham (Surtees) 38 Y⊇ piller next adioyning to y⊇ Lady of Pieties alter. |
c. mount, mountain of piety: see mount n., mountain. pelican in her piety: see pelican n.
4. with a and pl. (in sense 2 or 3). An instance of religious devotion or affectionate loyalty; a pious act, observance, or characteristic.
| 1652 Sparke Prim. Devot. (1673) 617 The pieties of the church and laws of the land. 1682 Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. ii. §12 Persons..more ready to be advanced by impressions from above, and christianized unto pieties. 1860 Hawthorne Marb. Faun (1879) I. xiii. 134 This great burden of stony memories which the ages have deemed it a piety to heap upon its back. 1895 Zangwill Master 431 Inextricably woven with all the pieties of childhood. |
5. attrib. and Comb.
| 1830 in W. Cobbett's Rur. Rides (1885) II. 317 St. Botolph..must lament that the piety-inspiring mass has been..supplanted by the monotonous hummings of an oaken hutch. 1893 E. Bellasis Mem. Serjt. Bellasis 158 A complete razzia was made upon the piety shops for rosaries, medals, &c. |