circumcision
(sɜːkəmˈsɪʒən)
Also 2 -cisiun, 3–4 -cicioun, 4 -cisioun, -sisioune, 5 -sycyon, -sysion, 6 -sysyon.
[a. OF. circumcisiun (mod.F. circoncision), ad. L. circumcīsiōnem, n. of action f. circumcīdĕre: see circumcide.]
1. The action of circumcising; practised as a religious rite by Jews and Muslims, and by various other nations; also as a surgical operation.
| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 83 Þene nome þet him wes iȝefen at circumcisiun. a 1300 Cursor M. 10986 Þu sal be dumb..Till þe time of his circumsisioune. 1382 Wyclif John vii. 22 Moyses ȝaf to ȝou circumcisioun. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 207 b, Whiche circumcision (as saynt Bede sayth) was a fygure of baptym. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 20 Their Religion is Paganisme, yet Circumsision tels us, they [Malagasy] have heard of Mahomet. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. xvi. 390 Distinguished by the peculiar mark of circumcision. 1879 Wallace Australas. v. 101 Circumcision is used in the north and in the south. [1881 Syd. Soc. Lex., Circumcisio fœminarum. The removal of portions of the nymphæ, and sometimes of the clitoris, of the female, as practised by some Eastern nations.] |
| attrib. 1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriot. 9 The circumcision knives which Josuah also buried. 1885 Arnold & Sons Catal. Surgic. Instr. 466 Circumcision Clamp. |
b. fig. Spiritual purification by, as it were, cutting away sin.
| 1526 Tindale Rom. ii. 29 The circumcision of the herte is the true circumcision. 1611 Ibid. Circumcision is, that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter. 1549 Bk. Comm. Prayer, Collect for Circumcision, Graunt vs the true circumcision of thy spirite. |
c. transf. In Biblical language: The circumcised people, the Jews;
fig. ‘the Israel of God’.
| 1382 Wyclif Acts x. 45 The feithful, or cristen, men of circumcisioun [1534 Tindale, They of the circumcision which beleved: so Cranmer, Geneva, and 1611: 1535 Coverdale, The faithfull of the circumcision; so Rheims.] 1611 Bible Gal. ii. 9 That wee should goe vnto the heathen, and they vnto the circumcision. ― Phil. iii. 3 For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit..and haue no confidence in the flesh. 1839 J. Yeowell Anc. Brit. Ch. ii. (1847) 18 The especial apostle of the circumcision. |
2. Eccl. The festival of the Circumcision of Christ, observed on the 1st of January.
| 14.. Circumsision (Tundale's Vis. 98) This day..That called is the Circumsysion. a 1558 Songs & Ball. (1860) 5 The tyme of newe yere, callyd the feast of Chrysts syrcomsysyon. 1782 Priestley Corrupt Chr. II. viii. 134 The feast of Circumcision is first mentioned..in 450. |
† 3. [As in
cl. Lat.] Cutting or shaving round.
| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 489 b, That shavelyng and cowled rowte..with bare scraped scalpes, beyng a new fangled mark of circumcision. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 10 Another beast..much like a Baboun, as appeareth by his natural circumcision. 1761 Fitzgerald Fruit Trees in Phil. Trans. LII. 72 Making an incision lengthways, from the upper to the under circumcision, I separated the bark. |
circumˈcisionist, an advocate of circumcision.
| 1883 J. Parker Apost. Life II. 99 He was no circumcisionist. |