▪ I. rite
(raɪt)
Also 4–6 ryte, 5 ryyt. See also right n.2
[ad. L. rītus ceremony, whence also F. rite, † rit, Sp. and It. rito.]
1. a. A formal procedure or act in a religious or other solemn observance. the last rites = the last sacraments s.v. sacrament n. 2 e; rite A, B: the two classes of Eucharistic rite in the Church of England's Alternative Service Book 1980, distinguished by being in present-day English and traditional liturgical English, respectively.
The distinction sometimes made by liturgical writers between rite and ceremony (applying the former to the order, and the latter to the acts, of worship) has not been maintained in ordinary use.
c 1315 Shoreham i. 1362 Þo certeyne men lyȝte þat lyȝt, Ase þe laȝe ȝef þe rytes So brode. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 347 In berynge of þe tabernacle, in sleying of beestis, and oþir ritis. 1396–7 in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1907) XXII. 296 Þe presthod of Rome is mad with signis, rytis, and bisschopis blissingis. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 3250 For to dyfface the olde lawe, And the Ryytys ther-off with-drawe. 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 11, I kan in no wyse remembre me..What rytys were usyd, and what royalte In namys yeuyng. 1529 More Dyalogue i. Wks. 162/2 The rytes and sacramentes and the articles of our faith. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 46 The same Religion, Rites, and Ceremonies, wherin they were borne and brought up. 1629 Maxwell tr. Herodian (1635) 248 note, This was an ancient Funerall rite. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ ii. vii. §11 That the ground of his acceptance with God did not depend on any Ceremoniall Rite. 1741–2 Gray Agrippa 62 Perform'd with barb'rous rites Of mutter'd charms. [1786 Burns Poems Sc. Dial. 190 The last, sad, mournful rites bestow!] 1795 Mason Ch. Music iii. 199 After he had eaten the Passover, and instituted the solemn Rite, which was to supercede it. 1838 Prescott Ferd. & Is. Introd. (1846) I. 46 They learned to attach an exclusive value to external rites. 1874 Sayce Compar. Philol. viii. 306 A hallowed stock of traditional beliefs and rites. 1922 C. Kerr Cecil Marchioness of Lothian xv. 228 Dr Talbot said Mass in her room and she was given the last rites of the Church. 1927 Times 11 July 14/4 Canon Breen, the local parish priest, was hurriedly brought and administered the last rites. 1961 P. J. Hepburne-Scott tr. J. C. Didier (title) The last rites. 1975 Times 8 Nov. 1/7 The cardinal..received the sacrament of the sick (previously called ‘last rites’). 1977 Belfast Tel. 27 Jan. 9/5 Their call is being backed up by local priest, the Rev. Peter Burns, who gave Mr. Moyna the Last Rites. 1980 Daily Tel. 24 Oct. 3/1 (heading) Queen [to be] at new Synod Rite A service. Ibid., The form of service will be Rite A from the new Alternative Service Book... The service is a revision of that known hitherto as Series 3. 1980 Alternative Service Bk. 1980 5 The Order for Holy Communion Rite A. Ibid. 6 The Order for Holy Communion Rite B. 1980 Alternative Service Bk. 1980: Commentary 74 The main further change made from Series 3 to Rite A is the separation of the commemoration of the departed from the summary sentences commending all the worshippers to God. 1980 Times Lit. Suppl. 14 Nov. 1281/2 Even the Lord's Prayer is now on sale in three versions—that of the Book of Common Prayer..; that of Rite A et passim and that of Rite B et passim. |
attrib. 1844 Mrs. Browning Brown Rosary iii. xvii, The rite-book is opened, the rite is begun. |
b. A custom or practice of a formal kind.
1581 G. Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. i. (1586) 25 b, The people are not onelie become warriers, but haue retained the customes and rites of warre. 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. 174 If any chance to weare a shoo-string or garters of that colour, by ignorance of this rite, they will flie upon him. 1716 Gay Trivia ii. 255 Cheese, that the table's closing rites denies. 1728 Young Love Fame iii. 236 That solemn rite of midnight masquerades! 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. ii. xvi, He..hopes to receive you..in a residence better suited to your claims on the rites of hospitality. |
c. transf. (in some cases perh. used for right).
1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. i. 373 Time goes on crutches, till Loue haue all his rites. 1667 Milton P.L. viii. 487 Guided by his voice, nor uninformd Of nuptial Sanctitie and marriage Rites. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 100 The Bull's Insult at Four she may sustain; But after Ten, from Nuptial Rites refrain. 1772 Lond. Evening Post 26 Nov. 1/4 Non-performance of conjugal rites. |
d. pl. Used as a journalistic term for any ceremony (U.S.).
1950 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 1 Apr. 1/2 (heading) Airport rites set for 2 p.m. today at Byrd. Planes, personalities will mark ceremony. 1957 Sun (Baltimore) 21 Jan. b1/6 (heading) Rites at White House performed before 80. Press is barred from ceremony in East Room. |
e. Anthrop. rite of intensification: a rite marking a special event affecting a social group and tending towards strengthening the bonds uniting its members; usu. pl.; rite of passage = rite de passage.
1909 Folk-Lore XX. 510 What M. van Gennep has here done is to enforce his contention by considering..a number of the sequences of rites to which he has given the title of Rites of Passage. 1947 Chapple & Coon Princ. Anthropol. xxi. 507 A Rite of Intensification..restores equilibrium for the group after a disturbance affecting all or most of its members. 1959 W. Goldschmidt Understanding Human Society v. 178 Rituals involving the whole community, called rites of intensification, re-enforce the initiate's sense of belonging and serve to strengthen group ties. 1960 Vizedom & Caffee Van Gennep's Rites of Passage p. vii, Passage might more appropriately have been translated as ‘transition’, but in deference to van Gennep and general usage of the term ‘rites of passage’, this form of the translation has been preserved. Ibid. p. ix, Ceremonies which accompany and assure the changes of the year, season, or month are rites of passage. 1970 P. Spencer in P. Mayer Socialization 148 The second type, performed when misbehaviour was expected from the moran and when their corporate unity and morale were low, were rites of intensification pure and simple. 1971 K. Thomas Relig. & Decline of Magic iii. 57 The subsequent raising of the age at which children are expected to undergo it [sc. confirmation] to fourteen or so has given it a more pronounced role as a rite of passage marking the arrival of ‘social’ puberty. 1978 W. A. Haviland Cultural Anthropol. (ed. 2) xiii. 346/1 Rites of intensification..are particularly common among horticultural and agricultural people, with their planting, first fruit, and harvest ceremonies. 1978 Times Educ. Suppl. 13 Jan. 15/1 The transition from fifth-year courses to A level involves a rite of passage to ‘real’ history. 1978 Chatelaine Dec. 17/1 And hockey is not just a sport. It's a rite of passage. |
2. a. The general or usual custom, habit, or practice of a country, people, class of persons, etc.; now spec. in religion or worship.
1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 401 The vse of that cuntre differrethe from the rite of Englonde in clothenge, in fyndenge, and in mony other thynges. c 1480 Henryson Mor. Fab. (S.T.S.) 775 Sum bene also throw consuetude and ryte Uincust with carnall sensualitie. 1513 Douglas æneis v. ii. 71 Eftir thair payane ryte and gise. Ibid. xiii. x. 127 Baith pepille of Troy and folk Italian, All of a rite, maneris and vsans. 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus i. 720 Inclinand law with humbill countenance, Weill preparit as thair vse was and rite. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The English observe the Rite of the Church of England, prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer. 1866 Chambers's Encycl. VIII. 300 All those Christians who acknowledge the supremacy of the Roman pontiff, even though they be not of the Roman or Latin Rite. |
† b. Religion. Obs.
c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxviii. (Margaret) 295 Betir it ware consal þi-self, & lewe þi ryt. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 341 b/1 He was a worshipper of ydolles and he had a wyf of the same Ryte. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 190 This wind sa keine, that I of meine, It is the ryte of auld. |
Hence ˈrited a.
1838 S. Bellamy Betrayal 57 Tempted, and taught and rited as thou art. Ibid. 193 It is no shrine for me—albeit with robes of rited sanctity Her courts are skirted now. |
▪ II. rite
obs. form of reit, right n.1