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Holy of holies   Listen
adjective
Holy  adj.  (compar. holier; superl. holiest)  
1.
Set apart to the service or worship of God; hallowed; sacred; reserved from profane or common use; holy vessels; a holy priesthood. "Holy rites and solemn feasts."
2.
Spiritually whole or sound; of unimpaired innocence and virtue; free from sinful affections; pure in heart; godly; pious; irreproachable; guiltless; acceptable to God. "Now through her round of holy thought The Church our annual steps has brought."
Holy Alliance (Hist.), a league ostensibly for conserving religion, justice, and peace in Europe, but really for repressing popular tendencies toward constitutional government, entered into by Alexander I. of Russia, Francis I. of Austria, and Frederic William III. of Prussia, at Paris, on the 26th of September, 1815, and subsequently joined by all the sovereigns of Europe, except the pope and the king of England.
Holy bark. See Cascara sagrada.
Holy Communion. See Eucharist.
Holy family (Art), a picture in which the infant Christ, his parents, and others of his family are represented.
Holy Father, a title of the pope.
Holy Ghost (Theol.), the third person of the Trinity; the Comforter; the Paraclete.
Holy Grail. See Grail.
Holy grass (Bot.), a sweet-scented grass (Hierochloa borealis and Hierochloa alpina). In the north of Europe it was formerly strewed before church doors on saints' days; whence the name. It is common in the northern and western parts of the United States. Called also vanilla grass or Seneca grass.
Holy Innocents' day, Childermas day.
Holy Land, Palestine, the birthplace of Christianity.
Holy office, the Inquisition.
Holy of holies (Script.), the innermost apartment of the Jewish tabernacle or temple, where the ark was kept, and where no person entered, except the high priest once a year.
Holy One.
(a)
The Supreme Being; so called by way of emphasis. " The Holy One of Israel."
(b)
One separated to the service of God.
Holy orders. See Order.
Holy rood, the cross or crucifix, particularly one placed, in churches. over the entrance to the chancel.
Holy rope, a plant, the hemp agrimony.
Holy Saturday (Eccl.), the Saturday immediately preceding the festival of Easter; the vigil of Easter.
Holy Spirit, same as Holy Ghost (above).
Holy Spirit plant. See Dove plant.
Holy thistle (Bot.), the blessed thistle. See under Thistle.
Holy Thursday. (Eccl.)
(a)
(Episcopal Ch.) Ascension day.
(b)
(R. C. Ch.) The Thursday in Holy Week; Maundy Thursday.
Holy war, a crusade; an expedition carried on by Christians against the Saracens in the Holy Land, in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, for the possession of the holy places.
Holy water (Gr. & R. C. Churches), water which has been blessed by the priest for sacred purposes.
Holy-water stoup, the stone stoup or font placed near the entrance of a church, as a receptacle for holy water.
Holy Week (Eccl.), the week before Easter, in which the passion of our Savior is commemorated.
Holy writ, the sacred Scriptures. " Word of holy writ."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Holy of holies" Quotes from Famous Books



... the usual groans of complaint about secrecy, but in the end avarice won over taboo and the door to the holy of holies was opened for Jason while two of the sciuloj, with bared and ready daggers, stood at his sides. At almost the same instant Jason looked in through the door ...
— The Ethical Engineer • Henry Maxwell Dempsey
... clear atmosphere which our Gothic churches in moist England present. Not more widely did the external aspect of the tabernacle in the wilderness, with its dark goat-skin coverings, differ from the interior of the Holy of holies, with its golden furniture, than does the commonplace look of the outside of the church of Santa Maria del Popolo differ from its magnificent interior. It is a perfect museum of sculpture and painting. Splendid tombs of eminent cardinals of the best period of the ...
— Roman Mosaics - Or, Studies in Rome and Its Neighbourhood • Hugh Macmillan
... "Havamal." The first thing enjoined upon a man both by the Norse writer and by the Spanish author is the art of silence. Probably this has been the result of social experience in all countries. "Cautious silence is the holy of holies of worldly wisdom," says Gracian. And he gives many elaborate reasons for this statement, not the least of which is the following: "If you do not declare yourself immediately, you arouse expectation, especially when the importance ...
— Books and Habits from the Lectures of Lafcadio Hearn • Lafcadio Hearn
... into the Holy of Holies," said another student, in relating his experience in listening to ...
— Pushing to the Front • Orison Swett Marden
... its breadth twenty, and the red marbles of the revetment were clean polished as a mirror, so that every image was reflected in it to the life. The dome was exquisitely carved and sumptuously ornamented without; and within were ranged in due rank and sequence rows and rows of idols. To this, the Holy of Holies, from morn till eve thousands of Brahmins, men and women, came docking for daily worship. They had sports and diversions as well as rites and ceremonies: some feasted and others danced, some sang, others played on instruments of mirth and ...
— Supplemental Nights, Volume 3 • Richard F. Burton


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