▪ I. holy, a. (n.)
(ˈhəʊlɪ)
Forms: α. 1 háliᵹ, háleᵹ, 2–3 haliȝ (def. halȝe, Orm. hallȝhe), 2–4 (6 Sc.) hali (3 ali), 4 (5– Sc.) haly, (Sc. 5 haily, 5–6 halye, 6–7 halie). β. 3–4 heli, hely. γ. 2–5 holi, 3– holy, (3–6 hole, 3–7 holie, holye, 4 hooli, hoely, 4–6 hooly, 4–7 holly, 5 oly, 6 wholy).
[OE. háliᵹ, -eᵹ (in inflexion contracted to hálᵹ-), also Northumb. hǽliᵹ (whence northern ME. hely), OFris. hêlech, OS. hêlag, -eg (MDu. heilech, -egh-, Du. heilig), OHG. heilag (MHG. heilec, Ger. heilig), ON. heilagr (Sw. helig, Da. hellig):—OTeut. type *hailag-oz, the sense of which is expressed in the Gothic of Ulfilas by weihs (but hailag, app. ‘consecrated, dedicated’, is read on a Runic inscription generally held to be Gothic). A deriv. of the adj. *hailo-, OE. hál, free from injury, whole, hale, or of the deriv. n. *hailoz-, *hailiz-, in OHG. heil, ON. heill health, happiness, good luck, in ON. also omen, auspice: see -y.
The sense-development from hailo- is not clear, because the primitive pre-Christian meaning is uncertain, although it is with some probablity assumed to have been ‘inviolate, inviolable, that must be preserved whole or intact, that cannot be injured with impunity’, a sense preserved in ON.; hence the adj. would naturally be applied to the gods, and all things specially pertaining to them; and, with the introduction of Christianity, it would be a ready word to render L. sanctus, sacer. But it might also start from hail- in the sense ‘health, good luck, well-being’, or be connected with the sense ‘good omen, auspice, augury’, as if ‘of good augury’: cf. OHG. heilisôn, OE. hálsian, to halse, augur, divine, exorcise, etc. The sense arrangement here is therefore merely provisional; we cannot in OE. get behind Christian senses in which holy is equated with L. sanctus, sacer.]
A. adj.
1. Kept or regarded as inviolate from ordinary use, and appropriated or set apart for religious use or observance; consecrated, dedicated, sacred.
(This sense blends eventually with 3 b.)
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke ii. 23 ælc wæpned..byð drihtne haliᵹ ᵹenemned. c 1050 Bryhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 310 He ys haliᵹ sunna dæᵹ. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 87 Fram þan halie hester dei. 13.. Cursor M. 17288 + 83 Þe thrid day after..Hald we hely pasche day. 1382 Wyclif Matt. vii. 6 Nyl ȝe ȝeue holy thing to houndis. 1526 Tindale Heb. ix. 2 The candlesticke, and the table, and the shewe breed, which is called wholy. 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Tit. 28 Neyther ought they to thynke any thinge that god hathe made to the vse of man to be holyar or vnholyar one than an other. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 184 Helicon the holy Hill of the Musis. 1608 Topsell Serpents (1658) 633 The holy kinde of Asps they call Thermusis. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 542 What day they begin any great worke they after keepe holy. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iv. xlv. 360 The word Holy..implies a new Relation by Appropriation to God. 1713 Addison Cato i. ii, The pale trembling Vestal When she beholds the holy flame expiring. 1836 O. W. Holmes Poetry iii. 82 All is holy where devotion kneels. |
2. As applied to deities, the development of meaning has probably been: Held in religious regard or veneration, kept reverently sacred from human profanation or defilement; hence, Of a character that evokes human veneration and reverence; and thus, in Christian use, Free from all contamination of sin and evil, morally and spiritually perfect and unsullied, possessing the infinite moral perfection which Christianity attributes to the Divine character.
Cf. sense 4.
Its earlier application to heathen deities is found in
ON., but
app. not in
OE.; in later use (see b) it renders Latin
sanctus,
sacer, so applied.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter xcviii[i]. 9 Haliᵹ is dryhten god ur. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John xvii. 11 Ðu haliᵹ fæder, ᵹehald ða on ðinum noma þæt ðu sealdes me. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 101 Alswa is þeo halȝe þreomnesse an god. 1382 Wyclif Lev. xx. 26 Ȝe shulen be holi to me, for Y the Lord am holy. ― Acts iv. 30 Signes and wondris for to be maad by the name of thin hooly sone Jhesu. ― Rev. iv. 8 Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God almiȝty. 1533 J. Heywood Pard. & Frere, The holy Trynyte Preserve all that nowe here be. 1611 Bible Ps. xxii. 3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. 1799 W. Gilpin Serm. I. xxi. (R.), The holy sufferer bowing his head, and crying, It is finished, gave up the ghost. 1827 Heber Hymn, Only Thou art holy, there is none beside Thee [etc.]. 1857 Bonar Hymn, Holy Father! hear my cry; Holy Saviour! bend Thine ear; Holy Spirit! come Thou nigh. |
| b. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. viii. 29 Like holy Phœbus Carre. 1608 ― Per. iii. iv. 7 Deliver'd, by the holy gods. 1850 Buckley Smart's Horace 265 Swearing by holy Osiris. |
3. Hence,
a. Of persons: Specially belonging to, commissioned by, or devoted to God (or so regarded):
e.g. angels, the Virgin Mary, prophets, apostles, martyrs, saints, popes, bishops, etc.
the holy souls, the souls of the faithful departed, the blessed dead.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Mark viii. 38 [He] cymeð on wuldre fadores his mið englum halᵹum. 971 Blickling Homilies (1880) vi. 67 Drihten..helle bereafode, & þa halgan sauwla þonon alædde, & hie generede of deofles anwalde. c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives (1890) II. 142 Nu cwæð se halᵹa Beda. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 141 Þat holie maiden, ure helendes moder. 1340 Ayenb. 74 Vor al þet eure þoleden þe holy martires. 1357 John de Thoresby Lay Folks Catechism (1901) 2 This maner of knawying..shuld we have had..Noght so mikell als hali saules has now in heven, Bot mikel mare than man has now in erthe. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 229 Þe pope wole be clepid ‘moost hooly fadir’. c 1425 Hampole's Psalter Metr. Pref. 21 A worthy holy man cald Rychard Hampole. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, i. iv. 102 The Dolphin, with one Ioane de Puzel ioyn'd, A holy Prophetesse, new risen vp. 1626 T. H. Caussin's Holy Crt. 483 The holly Bishops..began to declare the cause of theyr voyage. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 737 The Victim Ox..by the holy Butcher, if he fell, Th' inspected Entrails cou'd no Fates foretel. 1720 G. Stanhope tr. St. Augustine's Pious Breathings (ed. 5) i. xxiii. 48 (heading) The Happiness of Holy Souls at their departure out of this World. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. 61 On the summit of a lofty mountain, the holy John had constructed, with his own hands, an humble cell. 1849 F. W. Faber Jesus & Mary 92 Pray for the Holy Souls that burn This hour amid the cleansing flames. 1885 K. S. Macquoid Louisa III. vii. 115 Ah, may the Holy Virgin keep her from all evil! 1898 A. G. Mortimer Cath. Faith & Practice ii. xiv. 361 The Intermediate State, where the holy souls are waiting until their purification is accomplished. Ibid. 371 The joys and consolations of the holy souls in their preparation for Heaven. 1958 G. Montague Probl. Liturgy v. 305 It is clear..that the Holy Souls could not be properly named as the titular of a church. The Souls in Purgatory are not an object of the public veneration of the church. |
b. Of things: Pertaining to God or the Divine Persons; having their origin or sanction from God, or partaking of a Divine quality or character.
the Holy Name, the name of Jesus as an object of formal devotion among Catholics, as in the Litany of the Holy Name and the festival of the Holy Name of Jesus.
See also
M.E.D. s.v. holi adj.2 2 a.
| c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) xix. [xx.] 6 He hine ᵹehyrð of his þam halᵹan heofone. c 1000 Be Domes Dæᵹe D. 36 Haliᵹe dreamas clænre stæfne. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 119 Vre drihtnes halie passiun. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 143 Hali boc nemmeð þes woreld sæ. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 51 Ðat heli luue, ðat wise wil. c 1315 Shoreham 53 Thourȝ hys holy dethe Of sennes he was leche. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xii. 139 Straungeres fro the holy and verry Beleeve. c 1440 Thornton MS. f. 192 Of the vertuz of the holy name of Ihesu. 1521 Fisher Wks. (1876) 313 This hooly gospel gracyously offereth vnto vs foure goodly instruccyons. 1526 [see name n. 3]. 1534 Elyot Doctrinal Princes 2 Any booke, holy scripture excepted. a 1700 Dryden tr. Veni Creator 9 Thrice holy fount, thrice holy fire, Our hearts with heavenly love inspire. 1720 T.M. tr. Horstius' Paradise of Soul (1771) 409 Great are the Honours and Priviledges of the Holy Name, Jesus. 1851 J. B. Pagani Life A. Gentili iii. xi. 196 Singing along the way the Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus. 1860 Ray Palmer Hymn, ‘Jesus, Thou joy of loving hearts’ v, Shed o'er the world Thy holy light! 1884 Addis & Arnold Cath. Dict. s.v. Jesus, An office of the Holy Name. 1901 G. Tyrrell Autobiogr. (1912) I. vii. 94 Two of the boys..would bow their heads at the Holy Name at morning prayers. 1968 R. Woolf Eng. Relig. Lyric v. 172 Both ‘Luf es lyf’ and ‘My sange es in syhtyng’ include verses expressing devotion to the Holy Name. Ibid. 173 In medieval spirituality..the devotion to the Holy Name becomes a form of devotion to Christ in His humanity. 1970 R. W. Pfaff New Liturgical Feasts Later Med. England iv. 63 The quite historical indulgences connected with the Name of Jesus from the thirteenth century are concerned not with the mass but with pious ejaculations mentioning the Holy Name. |
c. More generally: Of high and reverend excellence; formerly said of things highly esteemed for their qualities or ‘virtues’.
| 1599 H. Buttes Dyets drie Dinner F iij, Many do much extoll Sage, calling it an holy Hearbe, averring that it preventeth all abortument in women. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 37 Paint their faces, and put Rice upon the paint, a holy remedy for each dayes chances. 1862 Burton Bk. Hunter (1863) 399 There is a propensity to believe that whatever is old must have something holy and mysterious about it. |
4. Conformed to the will of God, entirely devoted to God: in earlier times often connoting the practice of asceticism and religious observances; now usually: Morally and spiritually unstained; free from sinful affection; of godly character and life; sanctified, saintly; sinless.
a. Of persons.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. xviii. 134 He wilniað ðæt hie mon hæbbe for ða betstan and ða halᵹestan. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Mark vi. 20 Herodes..wiste hine wer soðfæst & haliᵹ. c 1200 Ormin 5394 Rihht ædiȝnessess seoffne, þatt hallȝhe weress follȝhenn. a 1300 Cursor M. 10618 Þar was na mai of nan oxspring Halier, noþer ald na ying. 1382 Wyclif Tit. i. 8 Sobre, iust, hooly, contynent. 1426 Audelay Poems 15 Throȝ the prayere of a good prist, an hole and an hynd, that kepys his ordore. 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 472 Ȝit, am I haldin a haly wif our all the haill schyre. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iv. ii. 41 Holy, faire, and wise is she. 1842 Arnold Serm. Chr. Life (1849) 29 For a moment it must overwhelm the mind of the holiest. 1875 Manning Mission H. Ghost xvi. 436 A just man fulfils the law, and gives to every man his due; a holy man is specially united with God. |
b. Of actions, feelings, etc.
| c 1200 Vices & Virtues 13 And seððen mid haliȝe wordes me wissede. a 1225 Ancr. R. 142 Heo owun to beon of so holi liue. c 1320 Cast. Love 814 Þe middel bayle..Bi-tokneþ hire holy chastite. 1426 in Surtees Misc. (1888) 10 For the werke of the haly charite. 1548–9 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, 2nd Collect at Evensong, O God, from whom all holy desyres..do procede. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. v. 99 So holy, and so perfect is my loue. 1781 Cowper Truth 281 A demeanour holy and unspecked. 1813 Hurn Hymn, ‘There is a river deep and broad’ iv, With holy joy their breast expands. |
c. Used trivially: (
a) with
horror or the like (
orig. U.S.), expressing intensity; (
b) with unfavourable implication of piety or sanctimoniousness (
colloq.); (
c) used with a following word as an oath or expletive, as
holy cow!,
holy Moses!,
holy smoke! holy Joe: see
quots.;
holy terror: a person of exasperating habits or manners;
holy Willie: a hypocritically pious person.
| [1785 Burns Poems & Songs (1968) I. 74 (title) Holy Willie's prayer. Ibid. 78 Here Holy Willie's sair worn clay Taks up its last abode.] 1837 Southern Lit. Messenger III. 668, I have a holy horror of gossips. 1855 [see Moses 1 c]. 1860 S. Mordecai Virginia xxxii. 317 The Virginia Legislature had such a holy horror of banks in 1803, that they refused a charter to the petitioners. 1874 Hotten Slang Dict. 193 Holy Joe, a sea-term for a parson. 1883 G. W. Peck Mirth for Millions p. viii, ‘Have you read {oqq}Peck's Bad Boy{cqq}!’..News agents on the Railroad cars found it almost impossible to meet the demand of those who yearned to become acquainted with this ‘holy terror’. 1886 J. M. Thompson Banker of Bankersville 265 To get it by means of such a holy terror of exhortation. 1889 Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang I. 469/1 Holy Joe (prison and nautical), the chaplain or any religious person. 1892 Kipling & Balestier Naulahka i. 4 By the holy smoke, some one has got to urge girls to stand by the old machine. 1893 Strand Mag. VI. 105/1 Not excepting even the Dwarf, and he's, generally speaking, a holy terror. 1916 ‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin iii. 34 Even the chaplain, the Reverend Stephen Holiman, set an example by shedding his clerical garments and trundling a barrow. The men loved seeing Holy Joe ‘sweatin' himself’, as they put it. 1916 G. B. Shaw Androcles p. xciv, The imitators of the apostles, whether they are called Holy Willies or Stigginses in derision, or, in admiration, Puritans or saints. 1917 Dialect Notes IV. 341 Holy horrors, a fright. ‘It gave me the holy horrors.’ 1920 ‘Sapper’ Bull-Dog Drummond v. 125 ‘Holy smoke! laddie,’ he murmured. 1921 N. H. Thorp Songs of Cowboys (ed. 2) 73 Holy Moses and the Prophets how we split the Texas air. 1924 Dialect Notes V. 265 Cow: holy ― (vex[ation]: New York). 1933 J. Masefield Conway 211 Holy Joe, one who is good at Scripture. 1934 J. A. Lee Children of Poor 130 The Holy Willies would throw a party. ‘Come to our Sunday School?’ 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 35 Holy Joes, prudish, narrow-minded puritans. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §194/6 Holy cow! |
| 1941 A. L. Rowse Tudor Cornwall vi. 121 He must have been a holy terror to the neighbourhood. 1949 M. Lowry Let. 26 Mar. (1967) 177 Holy great cow, what prose is this? 1951 J. Cornish Provincials 40 Quit showing off. Holy cow! 1951 J. D. Salinger Catcher in Rye xiv. 120 They all have these Holy Joe voices when they start giving their sermons. 1958 Listener 18 Sept. 429/3, I cannot find justification for Mr. McCallion's term ‘holy voice’. 1959 ‘J. Ross’ Boy in Grey Overcoat viii. 94 She said again, in that holy voice, [etc.]. 1960 I. Cross Backward Sex 40 ‘Holy smoke,’ he gasped, ‘That's a funny face.’ 1967 V. Canning Python Project vii. 135, I said..‘Holy Moses!’ 1973 J. Wainwright Pride of Pigs 104 Holy cow! I forgot to switch the bloody immersion heater off. |
5. a. In special collocations.
Holy Alliance: an alliance formed in 1815, after the fall of Napoleon, between the sovereigns of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, with the professed object of uniting their respective governments in a Christian brotherhood.
† Holy bone [
tr. L.
os sacrum:
cf. Ger. das heilige bein]: the
sacrum.
holy brotherhood [
tr. Sp. Santa Hermandad]:
= hermandad.
holy doors: in the Greek Church, the doors in the screen which separates the altar and sanctuary from the main body of the church.
holy laugh U.S., a laugh by a person in a state of religious fervour.
† holy oak: an oak marking a parish boundary, at which a stoppage was made for the reading of the Gospel for the day in the ‘beating of the bounds’ during the Rogation days; called also
gospel-oak,
gospel-tree.
Holy One: a holy person; used as a title of God or Christ; one dedicated to or consecrated by God.
Holy Roller (see
roller n.1 17 b).
holy seed: the seed of some species of
Artemisia, also called Wormseed. Also
holy church (sense 7),
H.
city (2 f),
H.
family (3),
H.
father (6 d),
H.
grail,
H.
inquisition,
H.
league,
H.
office,
h.
oil,
h.
order,
H.
passion,
H.
rood,
H.
Saturday,
H.
see,
H.
sepulchre,
H.
spirit,
H.
synod,
h.
table,
H.
Thursday,
h.
war: see these words. See also main words below.
| 1823 T. Moore (title) Fables of the *Holy Alliance. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 207 Apprehensions..resembling those which, in our age, induced the Holy Alliance to interfere in the internal troubles of Naples and Spain. |
| 1615 Crooke Body of Men 899 Ovt of the marrow concluded within the rackes of the *Holy-bone doe yssue sixe coniugations of Nerues. 1634 T. Johnson Parey's Chirurg. 574 The fracture of the Holy-bone. |
| 1742 Jarvis Quix. xxii. (1897) 101 The fugitives would give notice of the fact to the *Holy Brotherhood, who..would sally out in quest of the delinquents. 1895 S. Weyman Minister of France 49 You have been in the hands of the Holy Brotherhood? |
| 1772 J. G. King Greek Ch. 26 The *holy, royal, or beautiful doors. 1849 A. Beresford-Hope in Ecclesiologist IX. 10 The chancel is separated from the nave by a rood screen of oak with holy-doors traceried in the head. |
| 1829 Western Monthly Rev. II. 477 Dr. Roberts is very pointed in his testimony against the abominable practice of jumping, pointing, dancing, boreing... Might he not have added the ‘*holy laugh’? 1833 H. Barnard Let. 27 Mar. in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1918) XIII. 328 The preacher in the midst of a fervent prayer, will all of a sudden burst out into a loud boisterous laugh... The most godly of his brethren join with him. This is called the ‘Holy Laugh’. 1845 J. J. Hooper Some Adv. S. Suggs x. 122 Near these last, stood a delicate woman in that hysterical condition in which the nerves are incontrollable, and which is vulgarly..termed the ‘holy laugh’. 1948 E. N. Dick Dixie Frontier 198 When it got started in an audience, everybody would be seized with hearty natural laughter. It would last for hours sometimes. This was known as the ‘holy laugh’. |
| 1648 Herrick Hesper., To Anthea, Dearest, bury me Under that *holy-oke, or gospel⁓tree. |
| 1535 Coverdale Jer. li. 5 Of the Lorde of hoostes, of the *holyone of Israel. ― Mark i. 24, I knowe that thou art euen y⊇ holy one of God. 1560 Bible (Genev.) Ps. xvi. 10 Nether wilt thou suffer thine holie one to se corruption. 1667 Milton P.L. xii. 248 He vouchsafes..The holy One with mortal Men to dwell. 1860 T. H. Gill Gold. Chain Praise iv. ii, Holy One, who sin abhorrest.. Holy One, our sin who borest.. Holy One, who takest sorrow When we touch the thing abhorred! |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ccccxxxv. 942 The seede is called euery where Semen sanctum, *Holie seede..in English, Wormseed. |
b. In names of plants:
holy basil, the common Indian species of basil,
Ocimum sanctum.
holy grass, a grass of genus
Hierochloe,
esp. northern h. g.,
H. borealis (
quot. 1842); also, rarely
= holy-hay;
holy hay, Sainfoin; applied both to
Onobrychis sativa and
Medicago sativa: see
lucerne,
sainfoin;
† holy hemp, ‘an old name for
Galeopsis Ladanum’ (Miller);
† holy herb [
transl. Gr. ἱεροβοτάνη], a name in the Herbals for Vervain;
† holy rope, an old name for Hemp-agrimony (
Eupatorium cannabinum);
holy tree, an Indian tree,
Melia Azedarach, also called Pride of India;
† holy wood, a name of the West Indian
Guaiacum sanctum. See also
Holy Ghost,
holy thistle.
| 1880 Encycl. Brit. XII. 720/2 The worship of the tulsi plant, or *holy basil, by the Hindus. 1894 A. K. Nairne Flowering Plants W. India 251 O[cimum] sanctum. Holy basil... Very commonly cultivated, particularly about temples and in Brahmins' gardens. 1906 T. Cooke Flora of Presidency of Bombay (1908) II. 440 The Holy Basil, the most sacred plant in the Hindu religion, very doubtfully indigenous. |
| 1778 Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Cambridgeshire, The dry and barren parts have been greatly improved by sowing that called saint-foin, and *holy-grass, from its having been first brought into Europe from Palestine. 1842 C. W. Johnson Farmer's Encylc. 636 Holy-Grass, Northern (Hierochloe borealis).. This grass is said to be used at high festivals, for strewing the churches in Prussia. 1872 Syme Eng. Bot. xi. (ed. 3) 16 Northern Holy Grass.. This grass, dedicated to the Virgin Mary on account of its sweetness, is strewn about Catholic churches on festival days. |
| a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) II. 113 Saint-foin, or *Holy-hay. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 26 What annually yields its increase without a renovation of expence in Ploughing and Sowing; as we find in the Clover-grass or great Trefoyl, St. Foyn or Holy-Hay, La Lucern, Ray-grass, &c. 1884 Miller Plant-n., Holy Hay, Medicago sativa. |
| 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 64 Veruen, of some after their language is called *Holy Herbe. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 114/1 Vervain of some called Holy Herb. |
| c 1485 MS. Bodl. 536 in Sax. Leechd. III. Gloss. 332 *Holi roppe. 1597 Gerarde Herbal App., Holy rope is wild Hemp. |
| 1866 Treas. Bot. 731/1 M[elia] Azedarach, vulgarly known as the Pride of India, False Sycamore, *Holy-tree. |
| 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 65 *Holy-Wood grows plentifully in the West-Indies. |
c. Compar. holier in
colloq. phr. holier-than-thou: characterized by an attitude of superior sanctity. (
Cf. Isaiah lxv. 5.)
| 1912 T. Dreiser Financier lxvi. 684 The ‘holier than thou’ attitude, intentional or otherwise, is quite the last and most deadly offense within prison walls. 1918 Maclean's Mag. Jan. 45/1 His holier-than-thou attitude irritates the officials. 1922 S. Lewis Babbitt xix. 239 But I don't want you to think you can get away with any holier-than-thou stuff. 1928 F. Hurst President is Born xiii. 155 If the whole holier-than-thou house of Schuyler has got to be protected from me, dammit, I'm not going to do the protecting. 1957 R. Hoggart Uses of Literacy vi. 169 They counter-accuse their accusers of being ‘holier than thou’, of smugness, of ‘hypocrisy’. 1958 Listener 23 Oct. 660/1 She distrusted high flights of emotion, any parade of spiritual inclinations, any holier-than-thou attitudes. 1973 Ibid. 4 Jan. 9/3 The Mormons were not only holier-than-thou; they were thriftier. |
B. absol. or as n. 1. That which is holy; a holy thing.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. vii. 6 Nellas ᵹe sella haliᵹ hundum. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Acts 45 a, That it was not lawfull to gyue to dogges the holy. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 827 The Friers went one day with their conjuring, and conjured holies, the Crosse, Stole, Holy-water. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iv. §16. 292 The only Inventor of the Natural Holy. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. i. v, Clothes, a mystic grove-encircled shrine for the Holy in man. |
† 2. A holy place, sanctuary.
Obs. (
exc. as in 5).
| 1382 Wyclif Ps. lxii[i]. 3 So in holi I aperede to thee. |
† 3. A holy person, a saint:
= hallow n. Obs.| 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Acts 10 Neither wilte thou suffre thine holy, to see corrupcion. 1622 T. Stoughton Chr. Sacrif. ix. 114 So well pleasing are the Lords holies vnto him. 1648 Herrick Hesper., To Mr. S. Soame, Canonized here, Among which holies, be thou ever known. |
† 4. pl. Sacred rites, devotions.
Obs.| 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 279 In their holies they most use the Arabike by reason of the Alcoran written in that language. Ibid. 542 Their Temples..to which they resort to say and doe their Holies. |
5. holy of holies. [A Hebraism,
qōdesh haqqŏdāshīm, rendered in
Exod. xxvi. 34 ‘most holy place’, but literally reproduced in LXX and Vulgate τόν ἄγιον τῶν ἀγίων,
sanctum sanctorum, whence in Wyclif, etc.]
a. The ‘most holy place’, the inner chamber of the sanctuary in the Jewish tabernacle and temple, separated by a veil from the outer chamber or ‘holy place’.
b. transf. The inner part of any temple; the sanctuary or bema of a Christian church,
esp. in the Greek Church; a small recess containing a cross at the east end of a Nestorian church.
c. fig. A place of special sacredness, an innermost shrine.
| [1382 Wyclif Exod. xxvi. 34 The parti of the tabernacle that is clepid holi of halowes. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) viii. 85 This Place the Iewes callen Sancta Sanctorum; that is to seye, holy of halewes.] 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. i. v, The type of Christ in some one particular, as of entering yearly into the holy of holies..rested upon the high priest only. 1725 J. Henley tr. Montfaucon's Antiq. Italy (ed. 2) 56 A Priest..open'd the Doors of the Sanctuary, which the Greek call the Holy of Holies. 1778 Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Stonehenge, The space within it has been called the adytum, or the Holy of Holies. 1876 Ouida Winter City vi. 155 Self-engrossed, entirely shut in a Holy-of-Holies of culture and of criticism. |
6. sup.
holiest, used
absol. a. As a title of God or Christ.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 9337 Quen he þat haliest es cumen. 1866 J. H. Newman Hymn, Praise to the Holiest in the height. |
b. = holy of holies: see 5.
| 1611 Bible Heb. x. 19 Hauing therefore..boldnesse to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. |
C. Comb. a. adverbial, with other
adjs., as
holy-cruel,
holy-proud,
holy-wise.
b. parasynthetic, as
holy-eyed,
holy-minded,
holy-rolling,
holy-tempered,
holy-thoughted adjs.; hence
holy-mindedness, etc.
c. † holy-maker, sanctifier; also
† holy-making, sanctification.
| 1601 Shakes. All's Well iv. ii. 32 Be not so *holy-cruell: Loue is holie. |
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 182 An ollav, *holyeyed. 1957 J. Kerouac On Road (1958) 221 A thin..holy-eyed..lost soul. |
| c 1546 Joye in Gardiner Declar. Art. Joye (1546) 14 b, The only rightwysnes, wisdome, *holy maker..and satisfaction sufficient for al that beleue in hym. |
| 1535 Coverdale 2 Esdras viii 39, I wil remembre also the pilgramege, the *holymakynge and the rewarde. |
| 1902 W. James Var. Relig. Exper. xi. 296 The *holy-minded person finds..inner smoothness and cleanness. |
| 1801 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. XI. 43 Religion, or *holymindedness, may, with obvious advantage, be substituted. |
| 1602 Carew Cornwall (1811) 324 You neighbour-scorners, *holy-proud. Go people Roche's cell. |
| 1965 Punch 20 Oct. 583/1 Sister Margaret, formidable pastor of one of those *holy-rolling Harlem churchlets. |
| 1836 J. H. Newman in Lyra Apost. (1849) 163 Like..*holy-tempered Nazarite. |
| 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 384 *Holy-thoughted Lucrece. |
| a 1592 Greene Jas. IV, ii. ii, She's *holy-wise and too precise for me. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 15 Goodness by thee The holy-wise is thought a fool to be. |
▪ II. † ˈholy, v. Obs. [f. holy a., instead of the historical hallow v.] trans. To make holy, sanctify, consecrate; to make a saint of, canonize.
| 1578 Almanack in Liturg. Serv. Q. Eliz. (Parker Soc.) 446 The Temple of Jerusalem was finished and holied. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. iv. viii. (1886) 65 Written in virgine parchment, celebrated and holied by a popish priest. 1622 Massinger & Dekker Virg. Mart. ii. ii, On! I hug thee. Theoph. Both hug and holy me. |
▪ III. holy var. holey;
obs. f. holly,
wholly; early
f. hooly a.
and adv.