unction
(ˈʌŋkʃən)
Forms: 4–5 vnccioun, 5–6 vnccion (5 -ione, 6 -yon); 5 unxioun; 5–6 uncion (5 ovncion); 5 unctioun, 6–7 vnction (6 vun-), 6– unction.
[ad. L. unctiōn-, unctio, noun of action f. unct-, ung(u)ĕre: see unct v. So F. onction (12th c.), It. unzione, Sp. uncion, Pg. un{cced}ão.]
1. The action of anointing with oil as a religious rite or symbol; occas. ellipt. = b.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 113 Seynt Austyn..clepeþ it [sc. Mount Olivet] þe hulle of crisma and of vnccioun. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) iii. 10 Þai make bot ane vnccioun, when þai christen childer. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 253 The hooly unctioun, shrift, hosyl, repentaunce. ? a 1500 Chester Pl. viii. 289 Then both vnctions, sacrafices, and rites Ceremoniall Of the old Testament..shall vtterly cease. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 24 Then [he] treateth also of the other foure [sacraments], confirmation, order, matrimonye and Unction. 1697 J. Potter Antiq. Greece ii. ii. (1715) 196 The Act of Consecration chiefly consisted in the Unction, which was a ceremony derived from the most primitive Antiquity. 1745 Butler Lives Saints (1821) XI. 169 The ancient councils order them [sc. altars] to be consecrated by the unction of chrism, and the blessing of priests. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 414 The primitive fathers..practised exorcisms, unctions, signatures of the cross, and lustrations by holy water. 1856 R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 94 The three sacraments.—Baptism, the Eucharist, and Unction. 1879 R. T. Smith Basil Gt. x. 121 We bless both the water of baptism and the oil of unction. |
| personif. c 1425 Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1444 Then came to the fylde the mynystre fynall, Called Holy Vnccion, with a crysmatory. |
b. extreme unction: see extreme a. 3.
| 1513 Life Hen. V (1911) 182 After he had receaued the Sacraments of the Alter, and of extreame vunction. 1558 Bp. Watson Sev. Sacram. xxx. 193 To remoue these twoo euils, God hath ordeyned this Sacrament of extreme Unction to bee ministred. 1579 [see extreme a. 3]. 1602 J. Colville Parænese u j, Dispysing the Sacrament of the altar, Celibat and extrem Vnction as many do nou a dayis. 1663 Dryden Rival Ladies v. ii, 'Tis like giving the extream Unction In the beginning of a Sickness. 1734 in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. (1914) XIV. 122 Her last Sickness..only left time for y⊇ Extrem unction. 1783 W. Thomson Watson's Philip III (1839) 373 The blessed sacrament was administered to him about midnight. He received the extreme unction at two o'clock in the morning. 1871 Miss Mulock Fair France vii. 218 He told us a woman lay dying, and the priest was administering extreme unction. |
2. The action of anointing as a symbol of investing with a certain office, esp. that of kingship.
| c 1400 Three Kings Cologne (1886) 32 Þe Iwes..seyden þat longe tyme aftir þe Natiuite of crist her vnccioun cesyd noȝt, but þey had many kyngis aftir. a 1500 Cov. Corpus Christi Pl. ii. 204 Of that kyng that I ma haue a syght,..At whose cumyng the tru ovncion of Juda schall seyse. 1626 D'Ewes in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 218 The Archbishop performed the unction, which I doubted hee should not. 1690 Boyle Chr. Virtuoso ii. 30 The Heavenly Coronation has a Virtue like that of the Unction of Saul. 1757 Burke Abridgm. Eng. Hist. Wks. X. 430 He proceeded..to London to be crowned, and to sanctify by the solemnity of the unction the choice of the people. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. I. ii. 43 Leo III gave Alfred the royal unction. 1845 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. I. 19 Otho could receive the unction without scruple. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1875) III. xi. 41 The hands of Stigand might not administer an unction which was held to confer some⁓what of sacramental grace. |
3. fig. A spiritual influence acting upon a person.
Chiefly in renderings and echoes of 1 John ii. 20 and of the hymn Veni, Creator spiritus 8.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 John ii. 20 But ȝe han vnccioun of the Holy Goost, and han knowe alle thinges. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 154 They can not leaue & forsake the delectable wyne of contemplacyon & swete vnccyon of oyle of the holy goost. 1549 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Order. Priests, Thou art the very comforter..and Unction spirituall. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lv. §6 There is no other way how it should grow but either by the grace of vnion with deitie, or by the grace of vnction receiued from deitie. 1627 Cosin ‘Veni Creator’, Thou the anointing Spirit art;..Thy blessed vnction from aboue Is comfort, life, and fire of loue. 1663 Bp. Patrick Parab. Pilgr. xxxvi, When he felt those distillations on his head, he could think of nothing else but the Vnction from above. 1693 Dryden ‘Creator Spirit’ ii, Come, and thy Sacred Unction bring To Sanctifie us, while we sing! 1763 J. Payne tr. Imit. Christ iii. xix. 214 Give me, instead of all worldly comfort, the Divine Unction of Thy Holy Spirit. 1858 Neale Bernard de M. (1865) 26 The mention of thy glory Is unction to the breast. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. III. xi. 46 So now the oil poured on the head of God's servant might be a true sign of the inner unction of the heart. |
b. Deep spiritual feeling, or the manifestation of this in language and utterance; a manner suggestive of religious earnestness or appreciation of spiritual things.
In later use freq. in depreciative sense, implying that the feeling or manner is superficial or assumed, or is tinged with obvious self-complacency.
| 1692 Burnet Past. Care Pref. p. xxxiv, I began my Studies in Divinity with reading these, and I never yet grew weary of them; they..carry so much of unction and life in them, that [etc.]. 1817 Lady Morgan France (1818) I. 85 The peasantry..were seen..chaunting the office with as much faith and unction as if they had been paid. 1830 Coleridge Table-t. 1 June, There is a great decay of devotional unction in the numerous books of prayers put out now-a-days. 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. 235 That clerical unction which in a vulgar nature so easily degenerates into greasiness. |
c. transf. A manner of utterance or address showing real appreciation or enjoyment of the subject or situation.
| 1815 Scott Guy M. xvi, I have heard you too often describe the scene with comic unction. 1849 C. Brontë Shirley vi, He delivered the haughty speech of Caius Marcius to the starving citizens with unction. 1886 Pall Mall G. 7 Dec. 4/2 Is an actor subject to dismissal..because he does not ‘throw enough unction’ into his part? |
4. The action of anointing or rubbing with an ointment or oil as a lubricating or preserving substance.
| 1580 J. Hester tr. Fioravanti's Disc. Chirurg. 21 The first thing is to euacuate the stomacke, the second to sweate, the thirde vnccion. 1605 B. Jonson Volpone ii. i, Applying onely a warme napkin to the place, after the vnction and fricace. 1632 Lithgow Trav. (1906) 235 We saw..the place of Unction, which is a foure squared stone;..on which (say they) the dead body of our Saviour lay, and was embalmed. 1726 Pope Odyss. xix. 590 The bath renew'd, she ends the pleasing toil With plenteous unction of ambrosial oil. 1740 Johnson Life Drake Wks. IV. 425 In hot countries,..the natives only use unction to preserve them from the other extreme of weather. 1887 D. Maguire Art Massage iii. (ed. 4) 39 Unction does not, properly speaking, form part of the manipulations classified amongst frictions. |
5. Any soft composition used for anointing or lubricating; an unguent or ointment.
| 1580 J. Hester tr. Fioravanti's Disc. Chirurg. 26 b, Glisters, Vomittes, Purgations, and Vnctions;..the vnctions dissolue the winde. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iv. vii. 142, I bought an Vnction of a Mountebanke. 1631 Mabbe Celestina vi. 78 Clothing them [sc. their faces] with diuers colourings, glissenings, paintings, vnctions, oyntments. 1760 R. James Canine Madness 132 He must..get a considerable quantity of the unction rubbed into the arm-pits. 1860 Froude Hist. Eng. VI. 101 The next day, Arras having sent the necessary unction, the ceremony was performed at the Abbey. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 202 The unction or paste obtained by rubbing two blue stones together. |
| fig. 1657 Trapp Comm. Esther ii. 12 Let women learn and labour to smell of Christ, who is the royal Unction. |
b. fig. A soothing influence or reflection.
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. iv. 145 Lay not a flattering Vnction to your soule, That not your trespasse, but my madnesse speakes. 1836 Hor. Smith Tin Trump. I. 7 The stings of conscience would be intolerable, could we not lay some flattering unction to our souls. 1877 Farrar Days of Youth 108 Think not to lay to your diseased conscience the flattering unction that your sin was the result of circumstance. |