▪ I. commemorate, v.
(kəˈmɛməreɪt)
[f. L. commemorāt-, ppl. stem of commemorāre to bring to remembrance, make mention of, f. com- + memorāre to relate, mention. Cf. F. commémorer.]
1. trans. † a. To call to the remembrance of hearers or readers; to make mention of, relate, or rehearse. Obs. b. To mention as worthy of remembrance; to make eulogistic or honourable mention of; to celebrate in speech or writing.
| 1599 Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 206 It is to be acknowledged and thankfully commemorated, that this age hath not beene so utterly barren of good Princes. 1616 Bullokar, Commemorate, to rehearse or make mention. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 477 The Britannica, or Spoonwort of Pliny, which a most diligent Writer commemorates, that the Romans used against the same Disease. a 1693 Urquhart Rabelais iii. xxxiii. 282 The..Tempter did commemorate unto her..the Prohibition. 1714–23 Ayliffe Univ. Oxf. II. iii. i. 133 The Vice-Chancellor closes the Act in a solemn speech; wherein it is usual for him to commemorate the Transactions of the year past, and especially such Benefactions as have been given to the University. 1794 Sullivan View Nat. II, One of the Prophets, commemorating the miraculous providence of God, in conducting the Israelites to Canaan. 1876 Green Short Hist. v. 213 Dante..whom he [Chaucer] commemorates so reverently in his verse. |
2. To call to remembrance, or preserve in memory, by some solemnity or celebration. (For the Eccles. use, cf. commemoration 2 b.)
| a 1638 Mede Wks. ii. ix. 376 The constant Form of all the Liturgies..Μεµνηµένοι προσϕέροµεν..‘Commemorating’, or ‘by Commemorating, we offer’. a 1732 Atterbury I. vii. (R.), We are called upon to commemorate a revolution, as surprising in its manner, as happy in its consequences, as any age or country can shew. 1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) II. App. 378 It may perhaps be asked, why Beda is commemorated in the ancient calendars on the 27th of May, if he died on the 26th. 1872 W. E. Scudamore Notitia Euchar. 336 In the East..the Four great General Councils were commemorated in the Diptychs. 1883 Addis & Arnold Cath. Dict. s.v. Commemorations, As it would be difficult to say the Mass and office of two feasts on the same day, the Church, as a rule, celebrates the greater feast and merely commemorates the inferior one. |
3. Said of things: To be a memorial or memento of; to preserve the remembrance of.
| 1766 [see next]. 1828 D'Israeli Chas. I, I. vii. 216 Dates, which commemorate events, furnish no discovery of their causes. 1840 Macaulay Clive, Ess. 508/1 The stately monument which was designed to commemorate triumphs of France in the East. |
Hence coˈmmemorated ppl. a., coˈmmemorating vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1766 Entick London IV. 448 On a commemorating stone..is this inscription. 1875 Lyell Princ. Geol. I. i. xiv. 315 The commemorating processes, by which organic remains become fossilized. |
▪ II. † coˈmmemorate, ppl. a. Obs. rare.
[ad. L. commemorāt-us pa. pple.; or short for commemorated: see prec.]
Commemorated, rehearsed.
| 1671 True Non-Conf. 274 In almost all the Psalms of praise, we find the preceding distress and afflictions..first pathetically commemorat. |