| 释义 |
▪ I. sacrament, n.|ˈsækrəmənt|
Forms: 3–6 sacrement, (pl. 2 sacramens, 3 sacra-, sacremenz, 4 sacremens), 4 sakermente, 5 sacramen, sacriment, sakyr-, sacurment, 5–6 sacramente, 2– sacrament.
[a. F. sacrement (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. L. sacrāmentum (whence the Fr. popular form serment oath), f. sacrāre to consecrate, set apart religiously, to secure by a religious sanction, f. sacr-, sacer holy, dedicated, set apart: see sacred a.
In accordance with the functions of the suffix -mentum (see -ment), the etymological sense of L. sacrāmentum would be either (1) a result of consecration, or (2) a means of consecrating, dedicating, or securing by a religious sanction. The latter of these notions is that which seems to be present in the classical uses of the word: (1) the military oath, oath or solemn engagement in general; (2) the caution-money deposited by the parties to a lawsuit; hence (3) a civil suit or process. In Christian Latin from the 3rd century the word was the accepted rendering of Gr. µυστήριον mystery1. This use is evidently not based on either of the specific applications above mentioned, but is the result of a recourse to the etymological meaning. In early Christian language sacramentum and the synonymous µυστήριον were applied indiscriminately to any ritual observance of the Church, or to any spiritually symbolic act or object; but they were also often applied in an eminent sense to the two most important observances, baptism and the Lord's Supper or Eucharist. For the later history of the use, see below in sense 1.]
1. Eccl. Used as the common name for certain solemn ceremonies or religious acts belonging to the institutions of the Christian church.
The English use before the Reformation adopts the enumeration of seven sacraments (believed to have been first formulated by Peter Lombard in the 12th c.; the same list is recognized in the Eastern Church): viz., Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Order, Matrimony. As late as the 14th c., however, there were still traces in English of the wider application of the word formerly current; while the seven sacraments were viewed as eminently entitled to the name, it could be applied in a more general sense to certain other rites (see quot. c 1315). From the 16th c., Protestants generally have recognized two sacraments only, viz. baptism and the Lord's Supper.
The formal definition of sacrament depends on the answer to the question what is the distinctive feature common to the seven or to the two ‘sacraments’, on account of which they form a separate class from all other observances. Those who accept the number seven, and many of those who admit only two sacraments, say that the sacraments differ from other rites in being channels by which supernatural grace is imparted. By those Protestants who deny that baptism and the Lord's Supper in themselves convey supernatural grace, the specific difference of the ‘sacraments’ from other observances is regarded as consisting in their paramount obligation as having been expressly commanded by Christ Himself, and in the special spiritual benefits obtainable by their faithful use.
By some of the English Puritans and Nonconformists, the word was avoided as being associated with opinions regarded by them as superstitious; the usual term applied by them to baptism and the Lord's Supper was ordinance.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 51 Þe halie sacramens þe me sacreð in alesnesse of alla sunfulle. a1225Ancr. R. 268 Al þet holi chirche redeð ant singeð, ant alle hire sacramenz strencðeð ou gostliche. a1300Cursor M. 12894 A! Ion..nan was worthier þan þou Hand to lai on suete iesu, To giue him þat hali sacrament. c1315Shoreham i. 183 Al hit beþ cherche sacremens Þet tokeneþ holi þynges, As hali water, and haly bred, Liȝt, and belryngynges To leste; And of alle oþer sacremens Þes seuene beþ þe greste. 1340Ayenb. 14 Þe zeve sacremens þet byeþ ine holy cherche. c1386Chaucer Merch. T. 75 Mariage is a ful greet sacrement. c1460Wisdom 1115 in Macro Plays 72 Ande now ye be reformyde by þe sakyrment of penaunce. c1440Alphabet of Tales 186 He tuke his sacramentis of holy kurk and dyed. 1460Rolls of Parlt. V. 375/2 By the sacrament of matrymonie. c1475Harl. Contin. Higden (Rolls) VIII. 491 A pestilence..folowede soone after at Cantebrigge, causynge moche peple to dye as sodenly as madde men withowte the sacramentes of the churche. 1509Fisher Hen. VII, Wks. (1876) 273 The true byleue that he had in god, in his chirche & in the sacramentes therof, whiche he receyued all with meruaylous deuocion, namely in the sacrament of penaunce, the sacrament of the auter, & the sacrament of anelynge. 1604Bk. Com. Prayer, Catechism, Q. What meanest thou by this word Sacrament? A. I mean an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us [etc.]. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §198 [They suffered] the Sacraments themselves to be administered where the people had most mind to receive them. 1657Penit. Conf. iv. 49 The Sacrament of Penance will supply all other defects. 1864J. H. Newman Apol. 416 The fact of a parishioner dying without the Sacraments through his fault is terrible to him.
b. in sacrament: sacramentally. rare.
1628R. Field, Of the Church iii. App. 205 The crucified body of Christ thy sonne, which is here present in mystery, and sacrament.
2. spec. (with the). The Lord's Supper, Eucharist or Holy Communion. Often called the sacrament of the altar, the Blessed Sacrament, and (esp. formerly) the Holy Sacrament. Phr. to receive, take the sacrament, to communicate.
a1225Ancr. R. 268 Al þe deofles strencðe melteð þuruh þe grace of þe holi sacrament,..þet ȝe iseoð ase ofte ase þe preost messeð & sacreð þet meidenes bearn, Jesu. 1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 10198 Þe folk þat to þe preste went For to receyue þe sacrament. a1340Hampole Psalter vi. 1 Comunynge of sacrament of þe autere. 1340Ayenb. 14 Þe sacrement of þe wyefde. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 231 He ordeynede..þat þe grayel and þe offertorie schulde be i-seide to fore þe sacrement [orig. ante sacrificium]. c1440Alphabet of Tales 339 He had a gude frend, a preste, þat said a mes for hym and offred þe sacrament for hym. 1500–20Dunbar Poems ix. 86 Anis in the ȝeir to tak the sacrament. 1509Fisher Hen. VII, Wks. (1876) 273 The sacrament of the auter he receyued at myd-lent, & agayne vpon eester day. 1534More Treat. Passion Wks. 1337/2 Onelye this blessed sacrament is called and knowne by the name of sacrament alone. 1610R. Field Of the Church App. to 4 bks. i. 34 The true presence of Christs body & bloud in the blessed Sacrament. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §199 The obliging all persons to come up to those rails to receive the Sacrament. 1712Arbuthnot John Bull iii. viii, They never had a quiet night's rest, for getting up in the morning to early sacraments. 1804Southey in Ann. Rev. II. 202 They received the sacrament weekly. 1835Alison Hist. Europe (1847) IV. 136 A courageous priest..at the hazard of his life, often administered to her the Sacrament.
b. The consecrated elements, esp. the bread or Host.
a1225Ancr. R. 68 Ut of chirche þurle ne holde ȝe none tale mid none monne, auh bereð wurðschipe þerto, uor þe holi sacrament þet ȝe iseoð þer þurh. 1395Purvey Remonstr. (1851) 40 The sacrament of the auteer, which is whight and round, visible and palpable. 1419in S. Bentley Excerpt. Hist. (1831) 30 The box or vessell in the whiche the precious sacrement is in. 1548–9(Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Communion, Without any eleuacion, or shewing the Sacrament to the people. 1645Evelyn Diary 26 Mar., The Sacrament being this day expos'd, and the reliques of the Holy Crosse. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 216 The people never behold the blessed Sacrament, but they bow their face to the ground.
c. to take or receive the sacrament (to do something, or upon a matter): to receive Holy Communion as a confirmation of one's word.
1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iv. ii. 28 Ten thousand French haue tane the Sacrament, To ryue their dangerous Artillerie Vpon no Christian soule but English Talbot. 1594― Rich. III, i. iv. 208. 1601 ― All's Well iv. iii. 156 Ile take the Sacrament on't. 1681Trial S. Colledge 65 Mr. Lun. I will take the Sacrament upon it, what I say is true. 1691Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 191 The Irish under col. Clifford had took the sacrament to fight it out to the last man. 1749Fielding Tom Jones ii. vi, Notwithstanding the positiveness of Mrs Partridge, who would have taken the sacrament upon the matter, there is a possibility that the schoolmaster was entirely innocent. Ibid. xvii. iv. 1876Tennyson Harold iv. i, Harold. Morcar and Edwin, will ye upon oath, Help us against the Norman? Morcar. With good will; Yea, take the Sacrament upon it, king.
†d. used in oaths. Obs.
1500–20Dunbar Poems xxxiv. 41 Ane fleschour swoir be the sacrament, And be Chrystis blud maist innocent, Nevir fatter flesch saw man with E. 1573New Custom i. ii, Sacrament of God, who hath hearde suche a knaue? 1575Gamm. Gurton i. iii. 27 Gogs sacrament, I would she had lost tharte out of her bellie!
e. the last sacraments, Holy Communion and Extreme Unction administered to the dying; (see also quot. 1920); the sacrament of the sick, in the Roman Catholic Church, Extreme Unction (now officially termed the Anointing of the Sick).
1760in J. O. Payne Old English Catholic Missions (1889) 29 Jan. 7, William Hornby died at Middleham. He had the last sacraments. 1893E. Bellasis Mem. Serjeant Bellasis viii. 184 He left him..to go and tell the Curé..that the Serjeant ought to have the last Sacraments without delay. 1920Encycl. Relig. & Ethics XI. 574/1 At Cwm Yoy, in the Black Mountain, on the way to Llanthony, the people have at a funeral what they call ‘the Last Sacrament’. The coffin is brought out and placed on trestles, and beer and cake are then partaken of by the guests and persons assembled.., before the funeral procession starts. 1966‘Han Suyin’ Mortal Flower i. 41 The priest..with a Chinese choir boy holding the implements of Extreme Unction,..myself and my sisters assembled in Father's hospital room, to witness..the last sacraments of the Church. 1972S. Tugwell Did you receive Spirit? xi. 98 It is painful,..and at times comic, to read the Fathers of Trent arguing about the sacrament of the sick. 1975N.Y. Times 26 Oct. 1/5 A mass was held in the Prado Palace at which he [sc. Franco] took communion and received the sacrament of the sick, a religious ritual that used to be known as the last rites. 1981Church Times 4 Sept. 9/4 He was the priest in the famous photograph giving the Last Sacraments (a term seldom used now) to the wounded and dying on what the Irish call ‘Bloody Sunday’.
3. In widened application:
a. Something likened to the recognized sacraments, as having a sacred character or function; a sacred seal set upon some part of man's life; the pledge of a covenant between God and man.
a1340Hampole Psalter xvii. 1 Þis psalme contens þe sacrament of all chosen men. 1399Gower Praise of Peace 309 The pes is as it were a sacrement Tofore the god. 1563Homilies ii. Common Prayer & Sacram. 146 b, And so was circumcision a sacrament, whiche preached vnto the out⁓warde senses the inwarde cuttyng away of the foreskyn of the harte, and sealed and made sure in the hartes of the circumcised, the promise of god. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 42 Hereunto the Lord addeth the Rainbow, a new Sacrament, to seale his mercifull Couenant with the earth, not to drowne the same any more. 1679Crowne Ambit. Statesman iv. 65 Nature gives man a Sacrament In his own blood, never to hurt a woman. 1841Emerson Lect., Man the Reformer Wks. (Bohn) II. 243 Economy is a high, humane office, a sacrament, when its aim is grand. 1899W. R. Inge Chr. Myst. vii. 258 To the true mystic, life itself is a sacrament.
b. A type, token, sign, or symbol. Const. of.
Derived from the accepted definition of a sacrament as a ‘sign of grace’. Quot. 1660 exhibits an attempt to assign to the word a general sense in which the specific applications are included.
1534More Treat. Passion Wks. 1331/1 For they make theym wene, that..it is none other but a bare sacrament onelye, that is to wytte a token, a figure, a sygne or memoriall of his bodye and hys bloude crucified and shed. 1563Homilies ii. Repair. Ch. 85 The Temple..was a figure, a Sacrament, or a signification of Christe. 1660Jer. Taylor Worthy Communicant i. §3. 61 When Jonathan shot his arrows beyond the boys, he then by a sacrament sent salvation unto David. 1875E. White Life in Christ iv. xxvii. (1876) 486 This second death is never set forth as a sacrament of immortality. 1904A. R. Whitham Epist. Consolations vii. 87 Doubtless also those mysterious contents of the inner sanctuary..were copies of heavenly realities..; signs and sacraments they must have been of God's mercy and justice.
c. A mystery; something secret or having a secret meaning. [After L. sacramentum, used by Tertullian and in the Old Latin and Vulgate Bibles as a rendering of µυστήριον.]
1382Wyclif Dan. ii. 30 This sacrament, or hid trewthe [Vulg. sacramentum hoc]. ― 1 Tim. iii. 16 And opynly it is a greet sacrament of pite. 1388― Rev. i. 20 The sacrament [1382 mysterie, or priuytee] of the seuene sterris. c1400tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 51 God..make cleer ȝoure vnderstondynge to persayue þe sacrament of þis science. a1600Hooker Frag. on Sacraments in Eccl. Pol. (1888) II. 550 In a word Sacraments are God's secrets, discovered to none but his own people. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts Ep. Ded. A 4 b, Seeing God hath vsed them as Sacraments or Mysteries to containe his will. 1867Manning in Ess. Relig. & Lit. II. 362 All the words of Scripture are so many sacraments (or mysteries).
d. sacrament of the present moment, any and every moment regarded as an opportunity for the reception of divine grace.
1921E. J. Strickland tr. de Caussade's Abandonment to Divine Providence i. i. 3 What treasures of grace lie concealed in these moments filled, apparently, by the most ordinary events... O Bread of Angels! heavenly manna!.. Sacrament of the present moment! 1930J. Chapman Spiritual Lett. (1935) 83 The whole point of the ‘Sacrament of the present moment’ is that it is a..sacrament; it is God's action, God's will. 1943O. Wyon School of Prayer iii. 38 God makes His will known to us through the things that happen every day... Once we see it, our whole life is lifted on to a higher plane. This way of living has been described as The Sacrament of the Present Moment. 1967J. N. Ward Use of Praying iii. 36 There is the use of the ‘Jesus Prayer’... There is the cultivation of the ‘sacrament of the present moment’. 1979Tablet 22/29 Dec. 1251/2 We miss the many-splendoured thing in the goings-on of daily life, but it is there, totally transforming it and bestowing the sacrament of the present moment on those who are willing to accept it.
4. An oath or solemn engagement, esp. one which is ratified by a rite. (Chiefly as a Latinism.)
1387–8T. Usk Test. Love i. vi. (Skeat) l. 165 This..haue I saide for no harme, ne malyce of tho persones, but onely for trouth of my sacrement in my leigeaunce. c1400Destr. Troy 703 Here I aske you hertely þat ye may het here, With a solemne sacrement on þis sure gode, All þe forward to fulfille, þat ye first made. 1430–40Lydg. Bochas viii. xv[i]. (1494) D iv, He dyd varye From his promyse made by sacremente. 1461Rolls of Parlt. V. 483/1 And tofore theym make ooth and Sacrament convenient, to be true and lowly Subgettes. 1596Spenser F.Q. v. i. 25 This doubtfull causes right Can hardly but by Sacrament be tride, Or else by ordele, or by blooddy fight. 1611B. Jonson Catiline i. i. Wks. (1616) 693 Nothing wants, then, But that we take a solemne sacrament, To strengthen our designe. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. vii. 25 Nor are the deepest sacraments or desperate imprecations of any force to perswade where reason only, and necessary mediums must induce. 1752Young Brothers ii. i, Those whom I swore, before they parted hence, In dreadful sacraments of wine and blood, To bring back such reports, as shou'd destroy him. 1801E. Helme St. Marg. Cave (1819) I. 78 An infant at whose baptism she [as sponsor] had taken a sacrament to sustain and instruct in the best manner she was able. 1832Blackw. Mag. XXXII. 609 Bound by no sacrament of military obedience to the state. 1890R. Bridges Shorter Poems i. 7 Have not the young flowers been content, Plucked ere their buds could blow, To seal our sacrament?
5. Roman Law. The sacramentum or pledge which each of the parties deposited or became bound for before beginning a suit.
1880Muirhead Gaius iv. §12 The procedure in those legis actiones was in one or other of five modes,—by sacrament, by petition for a judge [etc.]. 1886― in Encycl. Brit. XX. 682/1 He required sureties from the parties for the eventual payment by him who was unsuccessful of the sacrament he had offered to stake.
6. attrib. (sense 2), as sacrament-wine; † sacrament-box, a pyx; † sacrament-cloth, a cloth or veil for covering the pyx; sacrament day, a day on which Holy Communion is celebrated; sacrament house, a tabernacle; sacrament-money, the alms collected at Holy Communion, formerly used as a fund for poor-relief; sacrament Sabbath = Sacrament Sunday; Sacrament Sunday, the Sunday on which the Lord's Supper is celebrated (in Scotland formerly only once or twice a year).
c1440Alphabet of Tales 112 On þe morn sho went vnto þe preste, and askid of hym how many hostis war in þe *sacrament-box in þe kurk.
1535–6Rec. St. Mary at Hill 369 Item, ffor dressyng of ij *sacrament Clothes. 1853Rock Ch. of Fathers IV. xii. 206 Over the cup itself was cast the Sacrament cloth, or piece of thin, cloud-like muslin,—pannus nebulatus.
1687W. Sewall in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. (1878) 5th Ser. V. 176 May 15th was our *Sacrament-day. 1765T. Lindsey Let. 1 Nov. in N. & Q. (1942) 1 Aug. 62/2 Being a sacrament-day, I could but barely ask the former how he did as he went out of the church. 1826A. Constable Let. 10 Oct. in J. Constable Corr. (1962) 228 Golding din'd with me on Sunday (Sacrament day).
1551Inscr. in Deskford Old Ch., Banffs., This present loueable vark of *sacrament hous maid..the yeir of god 1551. 1876C. Schreiber Jrnl. 16 July (1911) I. 464 Many objects of the rarest interest—a dance of death (1742).., a sacrament house. Ibid. 24 July 470, I saw a fine Sacrament house, the third I have met with. 1975A. Maycock Malling Abbey (rev. ed.) 15 The nuns enter their choir from the cloister.., passing..on the right a circular sacrament house on which the light falls from a conical shaft immediately above it.
1716Rules Disposal Sacrament-Money 3 In the appropriating all *Sacrament Money to the Poor only..they have the concurrent Sense of the whole Church of England..for above an 100 Years after the Reformation. 1860Mrs. W. P. Byrne Undercurrents II. 77 note, That fund known as the ‘Sacrament money’ is a relic of this venerable custom.
1816in Sc. Nat. Dict. (1971) VIII. 3/2 'Twas *sacrament Sabbath and much had been laid in. 1957E. E. Evans Irish Folk Ways xviii. 253 The ‘sacrament Sabbaths’ of Presbyterian Ulster were great gatherings having something of the nature of fairs.
1768J. Woodforde Diary 9 Oct. (1924) I. 80 David Maby..dined with us, being *Sacrament Sunday. 1796C. Simeon in Carus Life vi. (1847) 121 Sunday, 26th.—Sacrament Sunday at Moulin. 1897‘Ian Maclaren’ Dr. of Old School i. 37 Black he wore once a year, on Sacrament Sunday, and, if possible, at a funeral.
1698in 14th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. iii. 141 Theres a discovery of a designe to have poysoned his Majesty in the *sacrament wine on Christmas day.
▪ II. sacrament, v. rare.|ˈsækrəmənt|
[ad. med.L. sacrāment-āre to bind by an oath, f. sacrāmentum sacrament n. Cf. Sp., Pg. sacramentar.]
1. trans. To bind by an oath or solemn engagement. Const. to or † to do, also against.
Frequent in Sydney Smith.
1621–31Laud Serm. (1847) 55 When desperate men have sacramented themselves to destroy, God can prevent and deliver. 1804Syd. Smith Serm. II. 218 A nation of free men, sacramented together. 1834Emerson in Corr. Carlyle & E. (1883) I. iii. 34 A friend of mine and of yours remarked,..‘that people were not here as in England sacramented to organized schools of opinion, but were a far more convertible audience’. 1860― Cond. Life vii. 160 All those who are..by many an oath of the heart, sacramented to you.
2. To make sacred, consecrate.
1829Southey in Q. Rev. XLI. 212 The prince was assured, also,..that..his name was sacramented in the hearts of the people. [Literal rendering from Pg.] 1844N. Brit. Rev. I. 128 Chivalry might well be engaged in the service of religion, for religion sacramented profession. |