▪ I. lection, n.
(ˈlɛkʃən)
[a. OF. lectiun, ad. L. lectiōn-em, n. of action f. lect-, legĕre to read, to choose. (Cf. lesson.)]
I. Reading.
† 1. a. The act of reading. Obs. rare.
| 1669 Woodhead St. Teresa i. Pref. (1671) a, The frequent Lection of Books of Devotion. 1669 A. Browne Ars Pict. To Rdr., I am extreamly unwilling any person should..take the trouble of casting his eye here, were not I modestly of the opinion, something may not be impertinent, or unworthy curious mens Lection. |
† b. A particular way of reading or interpreting a passage. Obs. Cf. F. le{cced}on.
| 1540 Coverdale Confut. Standish (1547) k viij, Now is καθολικος as much to saye as vniuersalis. Which worde like as ye leaue out in youre lection [etc.]. 1652 Gaule Magastrom. 10 What magician will account of them so, in his way of lection? Or astrologer, in his way of configuration? 1702 W. J. Bruyn's Voy. Levant x. 39 To know the different Lections of this Inscription. |
c. concr. A reading of a text found in a particular copy or edition. † various lections, variant readings.
| a 1654 Selden Table-T. (Arb.) 22 When you meet with several Readings of the Text,..be sure you keep to what is setled, and then you may flourish upon your various lections. 1659 Bp. Walton Consid. Considered 114 If they be critical notes they cannot be either in part or in whole Various Lections. 1699 Bentley Phal. xiv. 461 In the Vossian MS. it's πάντα for πᾶσα; which may seem the truer Lection. 1715 Pope's Iliad i. note I. 47 The grand Ambition of one sort of Scholars is to encrease the number of Various Lections. 1830 De Quincey Bentley Wks. 1857 VII. 172, I confess that.. I myself am offended by the obtrusion of the new lections into the text. 1837–8 Sir W. Hamilton Logic xxxi. (1866) II. 149 Doctrines originating in a corrupt lection..have thus arisen and been keenly defended. |
2. Eccl. A portion of a sacred writing appointed to be read in church; a ‘lesson’. Also attrib.
| 1608 Willet Hexapla Exod. 179 They write in those parchments certaine sacred lections which they call para⁓shoth. 1695 S. Hooper Disc. conc. Lent 355 To this last describ'd Iewish Order of Morning Prayers so far did the Antient Christian agree, as to begin likewise with Lections and Psalmody. 1846 W. Maskell Mon. Rit. I. p. xxiij, On Passion Sunday, the first Lections were from Jeremiah. 1861 A. Beresford-Hope Eng. Cathedr. 19th C. 157 The ambo or ambones..for the lections of Holy Scriptures. 1885 Pater Marius the Epic. II. 135 Those lections, or sacred readings, which..occurred at certain intervals amid the silence of the assembly. 1927 A. H. McNeile Introd. New Testament 383 It [sc. the Codex Bezae] contains certain lection marks which Brightman holds to be Byzantine. |
† 3. A professional or tutorial lecture. Obs. rare.
| 1563–7 Buchanan Reform. St. Andros Wks. (1892) 11 The portar..sal ryng..at sax to the lesson public; before viij, twys to the ordinar lection. |
† 4. A lesson to be learnt. Obs.
| 1621 Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.) 233, I cry in generall, on Spirituall & Temporall, This lectioun that ȝe leir. |
II. = election.
| a 1300 Leg. St. Gregory 986 (Schulz) Þe cardinals..bisouȝt God,..Her leccioun wele to do. 1462 Burgh Rec. Peebles (1872) 145 Ilke man be his awn vos gaf thair lectioun to the sayd Schyr John. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. xlii. 129 heading, Howe pope Vrbane and pope Clement were at grete dyscorde togyder, and howe the crysten kynges were in varyaunce for theyr lectyons. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (1858) II. 698 The haill lectioun that tha had gevin him till. |
▪ II. lection, v. rare—1.
(ˈlɛkʃən)
[f. the n.]
To read a lesson from.
| 1922 Hardy Late Lyrics 165, I went where my friend had lectioned The prophets in high declaim. |