TRADITION • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Tradition

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/trədˈɪʃən/ Listen

noun

Tradition n.

1.

The act of delivering into the hands of another; delivery. "A deed takes effect only from the tradition or delivery."

2.

The unwritten or oral delivery of information, opinions, doctrines, practices, rites, and customs, from father to son, or from ancestors to posterity; the transmission of any knowledge, opinions, or practice, from forefathers to descendants by oral communication, without written memorials.

3.

Hence, that which is transmitted orally from father to son, or from ancestors to posterity; knowledge or belief transmitted without the aid of written memorials; custom or practice long observed. "Will you mock at an ancient tradition begun upon an honorable respect?" "Naught but tradition remains of the beautiful village of Grand-Pré."

4.

(Theol.)

(a)

An unwritten code of law represented to have been given by God to Moses on Sinai. "Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered."

(b)

That body of doctrine and discipline, or any article thereof, supposed to have been put forth by Christ or his apostles, and not committed to writing. "Stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle."

Tradition Sunday (Eccl.), Palm Sunday; so called because the creed was then taught to candidates for baptism at Easter.

verb

Tradition v. t. To transmit by way of tradition; to hand down. (Obs.) "The following story is... traditioned with very much credit amongst our English Catholics."

See images of 'Tradition'

Etymology of 'Tradition'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Tradition" Quotes from Famous Books

... host being punished afterwards by some of Cromwell's soldiers and the malcontents of Birmingham besieging the place in the week after Christmas, 1643. The brick wall round the park, nearly three miles long, but of which there are now few traces left, was put up by Sir Lister Holte about 1750, and tradition says it was paid for by some Staffordshire coal-masters, who, supposing that coal lay underneath, conditioned with Sir Lister that no mines should be sunk within [word missing—presume "its"] boundary. The Hall and ...

— Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham - A History And Guide Arranged Alphabetically • Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell

... first vice-president of the National Association, in responding said: "Now we know definitely that all the things we have heard about Kentucky are true; we have met her brave women and handsome colonels. While we remember all the tradition of the past we live in the present. Kentucky is proud of what her men named Clay have done in the past but it is a pleasure to us to know that today when Kentucky wants anything done she appeals to a woman who is either Clay by name or Clay by blood." ...

— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume V • Ida Husted Harper

... belle of the neighborhood, and known in tradition as Washington's first love, was born in the "Manor House" July 3, 1730. Washington first met her on a visit to New York in 1756, after his return from Braddock's campaign, as guest of Beverly Robinson, who had ...

— The Hudson - Three Centuries of History, Romance and Invention • Wallace Bruce

... This "Mela," feast, religious pilgrimage, whatever it might mean to these endless multitudes, is held here at stated times because the two sacred rivers, the Jumna and the Ganges, come together at Allahabad, and tradition has it that a third river flows beneath the surface to meet the others. So the place is trebly sacred, its waters potent for purification, no matter how ...

— John Wesley, Jr. - The Story of an Experiment • Dan B. Brummitt

... with her own point carried, saw no reason why she should not add a shovelful of symbolic earth herself. Thus, beginning with a trickle, the flow of her good humor presently broadened to the width of the sluice-gate, as she entered upon an absorbing scrutiny of the quaint old house which by tradition had served one of the earlier governors. It was a rambling structure of unexpected turns and endless alcoves stored with curios, art treasures, and ...

— The Henchman • Mark Lee Luther

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