ˈoflete Obs.
Forms: 1 oflǽte, -láte, -léte, (ofeléte), 2 ouelete, (3 ouelote), 9 of(f)lete.
[mod. ad. OE. oflǽte, -láte wk. fem., ad. eccl. L. oblāta, n. use of fem. pa. pple. of offerre to offer; cf. O.Icel. obláta, oblát, OHG. oblâta (Ger. oblate), and see obley. (If the old word had survived, its mod. form would have been ov(e)let, or owlet.)]
1. An offering, sacrifice, oblation.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter I. 21 Ðonne ðu onfoest onseᵹdnisse rehtwisnisse oflatan. c 1000 Ags. Ps. xxxix. 6 Noldest þu na offrunga and oflata nane. a 1300 E.E. Psalter ibid., Offrand and ouelote wald þou noght se. [1881 T. E. Bridgett Hist. Holy Eucharist I. 167 A pure oflete or oblation.] |
2. A sacramental wafer; a wafer generally.
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 174 Benedictus..asende ane ofeletan, and het mid þære mæssian for ðam mynecenum. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 42 Wið weorh man sceal niman .vii. lytle oflætan swylce man mid ofrað & writtan þas naman on ælcre oflætan. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 97 Erest it beð ouelete..and efter..turneð þe bred to fleis. [1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) I. vii. 268 The offlete or bread for the oblation. 1849 Rock Ch. of Fathers I. ii. 156 Instead of ofletes these [altar] Breads came to be called by the name either of ‘Obley’, or of ‘singing-bread’. 1884 A. J. Butler Anc. Copt. Ch. II. 50 The Greek rubric sanctions the use of a napkin or corporal to fan the oflete.] |