circumcisionn.
/səːkəmˈsɪʒən/ 1. attributive.1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriotaphia: Urne-buriall ii. 24 The circumcision knives which Josuah also buried.1895 Catal. Surg. Instruments (Arnold & Sons) 466 Circumcision Clamp.
a. The action of circumcising; practised as a religious rite by Jews and Muslims, and by various other nations; also as a surgical operation.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > cleanness (ceremonial) > circumcision > [noun]
circumcisionc1175
circumcisinga1300
peritomy1789
posthetomy1846
c1175 Lamb. Hom. 83 Þene nome þet him wes iȝefen at circumcisiun.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) John vii. 22 Moyses ȝaf to ȝou circumcisioun.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 10986 Þu sal be dumb..Till þe time of his circumsisioune.
a1530 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfeccyon (1531) iii. f. ccviiv Whiche circumcision (as saynt Bede sayth) was a fygure of baptym.
1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 20 Their Religion is Paganisme, yet Circumcision tels vs, they [sc. Malagasy] haue heard of Mahomet.
1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. xvi. 390 Distinguished by the peculiar mark of circumcision.
1879 A. R. Wallace Australasia v. 101 Circumcision is used in the north and in the south.
1881 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon Circumcisio fœminarum. The removal of portions of the nymphæ, and sometimes of the clitoris, of the female, as practised by some Eastern nations.]
b. figurative. Spiritual purification by, as it were, cutting away sin.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > virtue > purity > [noun] > moral purification
cleansingc1000
purgationc1384
purgatoryc1400
circumcision1526
purificationa1560
defecation1632
castification1653
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Rom. ii. 29 The circumcision of the herte is the true circumcision.
1549 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16267) Celebr. Holye Communion f. xix Graunt vs the true circumcision of thy spirite.
1611 Bible (King James) Rom. ii. 29 Circumcision is, that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter. View more context for this quotation
c. transferred. In Biblical language: The circumcised people, the Jews; figurative ‘the Israel of God’.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > sect > Judaism > [noun] > person > collective
ten tribes971
Abraham's seedOE
Jewry?c1225
circumcision1382
peculiar people1535
peculiar nation1651
Yahudi1858
1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) 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 (King James) Gal. ii. 9 That wee should goe vnto the heathen, and they vnto the circumcision . View more context for this quotation
1611 Bible (King James) Phil. iii. 3 For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit..and haue no confidence in the flesh. View more context for this quotation
1847 J. Yeowell Chron. Anc. Brit. Church ii. 18 The especial apostle of the circumcision.
2. Christian Church. The festival of the Circumcision of Christ, observed on the 1st of January.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > liturgical year > feast, festival > specific Christian festivals > Feast of the Circumcision (1 January) > [noun]
circumcision14..
14.. Circumsision in Tundale's Vis. 98 This day..That called is the Circumsysion.
?a1560 in T. Wright Songs & Ballads Reign Philip & Mary (1860) 5 The tyme of newe yere, callyd the feast of Chrysts syrcomsysyon.
1782 J. Priestley Hist. Corruptions Christianity II. viii. 134 The feast of Circumcision is first mentioned..in 450.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > cutting > [noun] > cutting off or away (with an instrument)
shearingc1315
paring1319
concision1382
shaving1390
thwiting1393
forcingc1440
trousing1512
trimmingc1525
circumcision1581
snipping1583
clipping1589
snip-snap1597
trim1608
whittling1614
collinga1628
shripping1635
snippery1639
undercuttinga1652
exscindinga1677
nipping1693
snip-snapping1906
1581 J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius 489 b That shavelyng and cowled rowte..with bare scraped scalpes, beyng a new fangled mark of circumcision.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 12 Another beast..much lyke a Baboun, as appeareth by his naturall circumcision.
1762 K. Fitzgerald in Philos. Trans. 1761 (Royal Soc.) 52 72 Making an incision lengthways, from the upper to the under circumcision, I separated the bark.
Derivatives
circumˈcisionist n. an advocate of circumcision.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > cleanness (ceremonial) > circumcision > [noun] > one who advocates
circumcisionist1883
1883 J. Parker Apostolic Life II. 99 He was no circumcisionist.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1889; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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n.c1175