confessionn.
/kənˈfɛʃən/ I. The action of confessing.
1.
a. The disclosing of something the knowledge of which by others is considered humiliating or prejudicial to the person confessing; a making known or acknowledging of one's fault, wrong, crime, weakness, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > manifestation > disclosure or revelation > [noun] > self-revelation > confession
anyetenessc1175
anyetingc1175
shrifta1340
unburdening1550
confession1604
eviscerationa1631
disembosoming1836
disbosoming1844
unburdenment1892
sharing1931
1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. i. 9 When we would bring him on to some confession Of his true state. View more context for this quotation
1611 T. Middleton & T. Dekker Roaring Girle sig. F Confession is but poore amends for wrong, Vnlesse a rope would follow.
1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall III. 240 Tortures, to force from their prisoners the confession of hidden treasure.
1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda I. i. vi. 107 Isabel..did not foresee her own impulse to confession.
b. Law. Acknowledgement before the proper authority of the truth of a statement or charge; acknowledgement by a culprit of the offence charged against him, when he is asked to plead to the indictment. confession and avoidance: admission of the truth of an adverse allegation, with the allegation of some new matter tending to avoid its legal effect.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > acknowledgement, avowal, or confession > [noun] > a confession > legal
confession1528
confessal1589
1528–30 tr. T. Littleton Tenures (new ed.) f. xv Eyther he is vylayne by prescrypcyon..or he is vylayne by his owne confessyon in courte of recorde.
1641 Rastell's Termes de la Ley (new ed.) f. 74 Which confession of the prisoner himselfe is the most certaine answer and best satisfaction that may bee given to the Judge to condemne the offendor.
1891 N.E.D. at Confession Mod. The prisoner has made a full confession.
2.
a. As a religious act: The acknowledging of sin or sinfulness; esp. such acknowledgement made in set form in public worship.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > martyrdom > confession > [noun]
confessionc1380
society > faith > worship > sacrament > confession > [noun] > instance of
shriftc1275
confessionc1380
c1380 Eng. Wycliffite Serm. in Sel. Wks. I. 27 He smote upon his breest, to figure true confessioun.
c1440 Gesta Romanorum (Harl.) i. 4 Putte downe..thyne old lif of synne, and entre yn to the bathe of confessione.
1549 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16267) Svpper of the Lorde f. cxxixv Make your humble confession to almightie God, and to his holy church here gathered together in hys name, mekely knelyng vpon your knees.
a1600 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie ii. iv. §6 Public confession they thought necessary by way of discipline, not private confession, as in the nature of a sacrament, necessary.
1720 C. Wheatley Illustr. Bk. Common Prayer (1839) 113 Such as would pray effectually have always begun with confession.
1884 J. H. Blunt Annot. Bk. Common Prayer 181 To place a public Confession and Absolution within the reach of all, day by day.
b. spec. The confessing of sins to a priest, as a religious duty; more fully, sacramental or auricular confession.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > sacrament > confession > [noun]
shriftc1175
wil-shrift?c1225
shrivinga1250
confession1377
fassionc1440
shriftnessc1460
manifestation1657
confessional1816
1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. xii. 176 How contricioun with-oute confessioun conforteth þe soule.
c1394 P. Pl. Crede 468 Þei coueten confessions to kachen some hire, And sepultures also some wayten to cacchen.
a1500 Lancelot of Laik (1870) 2084 If that yhow at confessioune hath ben, And makith the of al thi synnis clen.
1549 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16267) Svpper of the Lorde f. cxxiiii Requiryng suche as shalbe satisfied with a generall confession, not to be offended with them that doe vse..the auriculer and secret confession to the Priest.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) v. ii. 39 Besides she did intend Confession At Patricks Cell this euen. View more context for this quotation
1713 R. Steele Englishman No. 49. 314 I..have not for some months been at Confession.
1824 W. Scott Redgauntlet III. ii. 50 A lovely lass to a friar came, To confession a-morning early.
1865 Union Rev. 3 614 Confession, again, as it is ordinarily administered among us, is another stumbling-block.
3. Acknowledgement of a statement, claim, etc.; admission, concession.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > acceptance, reception, or admission > [noun]
acceptationa1425
admission?1430
allowancec1443
receipta1500
admittinga1504
admittance1534
confession1546
acceptance1569
entertain1616
conceding1656
reception1660
1546 Wycklyffes Wycket sig. A.ix By youre owne confession muste it nedes be that we worshyppen a fallse god in the chalyce.
1605 Bp. J. Hall Medit. & Vowes II. §49 There are three groundes of friendship..and, by all confessions, that is the surest, which is vpon vertue.
1628 T. Hobbes tr. Thucydides Peloponnesian War (1822) 99 This year, by confession of all men, was of all other..most free and healthful.
1837 H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe I. iv. 369 There were two,..who had by common confession reached a consummate elegance of style.
4. The recognizing or acknowledging (of a person or thing) as having a certain character or certain claims; declaration of belief in or adhesion to; acknowledgement, profession, avowal when asked; spec. the testimony rendered by a Confessor (sense 2).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > acknowledgement, avowal, or confession > [noun]
anyetenessc1175
anyetingc1175
avowry1340
beknowledging1340
confessionc1384
professiona1513
owning1535
acknowledgement1574
avowment1581
submission1597
avowancea1603
confessing1611
avowinga1677
avowal1732
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 2 Macc. x. 38 Thei blessiden the Lord in ympnys and confessiouns.
1549 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16267) Celebr. Holye Communion f. lxxiiv By the confession of a true fayth to acknowlege the glorye of the eternall trinitie.
1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iv. vii. 80 He made confession of you, And gaue you such a masterly report, for Art. View more context for this quotation
1681 O. Heywood Autobiogr., Diaries, & Event Bks. 23 Aug. 21 Then Mr. Jo. Heyw'd made his Confession, etc. Then they proceeded to Imposition of Hands.
1795 J. Macknight New Literal Transl. Apostolical Epist. I. 318 There is a difference between the profession, and the confession of our faith.
1833 C. F. Crusé tr. Eusebius Eccl. Hist. (ed. 2) v. i. 172 But this blessed saint..in the midst of her confession itself renewed her strength.
II. That which is confessed, its matter or form.
5. That which is made known in confessing; the matter confessed.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > manifestation > disclosure or revelation > [noun] > self-revelation > confession > matter confessed
confession?a1475
?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 167 Seynte Austyn seythe in his booke of confessiones.
a1536 W. Tyndale Wks. 180 (R.) The bishop knoweth the confession of whom he lusteth throughout all his dioces.
1604 B. Jonson His Pt. Royall Entertainem. sig. Fv And this Confession flew from euery voyce. Neuer had Land more reason to reioyce.
a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) iv. iii. 116 His confession is taken, and it shall bee read to his face. View more context for this quotation
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. (1682) x. 432 The Governer commanded me to subscribe my Confession, which I voluntarily obeyed.
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. (1682) x. 437 And now after long and new Examinations..they finding my first and second Confession so run in one, that the Governer swore, I had learned the Art of Memery.
1833 G. Waddington Hist. Church 126 To proclaim.. the nature of the confessions which they had received.
1881 W. Besant & J. Rice Chaplain of Fleet I. vi. 155 ‘Kitty should enter these confessions in a book,’ said Mrs. Esther.
6. A formulary containing a general acknowledgement of sinfulness, such as frequently forms part of public Christian worship.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > book (general) > service book (general) > [noun] > concerning penance
penitentialOE
confession1530
penitentiary1846
1530 Ortulus Anime sig. I.5v Here foloweth A generall Confession fore every synner.
1549 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16267) Svpper of the Lorde f. cxxiiiiv Suche as shalbe satisfied with a generall confession.
1549 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16267) Svpper of the Lorde f. cxxixv Then shall thys generall Confession be made, in the name of all those that are minded to receiue the holy Communion.
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 147. ⁋2 The Confession was read with such a resigned Humility.
1815 Horsley Bk. of Psalms (1821) I. 292 Psalm li The Penitential Confession of the converted Jews.
1884 J. H. Blunt Annot. Bk. Common Prayer 182 The general Confession appears to be an original composition of some of the revisers of 1552.
7.
a. (More fully Confession of Faith.) A formulary in which a church or body of Christians sets forth the religious doctrines which it considers essential; an authoritative declaration of the articles of belief; a creed.Sometimes applied to the ancient œcumenical creeds; but more usually to the formulated statements of doctrine put forth by the various Reformed churches in the 16th and 17th centuries, of which that of Augsburg (1530) was the earliest, and the first (1560) and second (1580–1) Confession of Faith of the Church of Scotland, and the Westminster Confession (1643–7), are most noted in the history of Great Britain.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > creed > [noun]
credoeOE
trothc1175
creance1393
trutha1400
symbol1490
confession1536
judgement1609
persuasion1623
creed1676
Shemaa1699
shahāda1885
creditability1886
1536 Taverner (title) The Confession of the Faith of the Germans, exhibited at Augusta; to which is added The Apology of Melancthon defending the said Confession.
1549 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16267) Euensong f. vi Vpon Trinitie Sonday, shalbe song or sayd..this confession of our christian fayth.
1561 (title) The confessione of the fayth and doctrin beleved and professed by the Protestantes of the realme of Scotland exhibited to the estates of the sam in Parliament.
1571 J. Northbrooke (title) A Breefe and Pithie Summe of the Christian Faith, made in Fourme of a Confession.
1580 (title) The Confession of Faith of the Kirk of Scotland or the National Covenant.
a1613 E. Brerewood Enq. Langs. & Relig. (1614) Pref. sig. ¶¶4 The confessions themselues..are these, the Anglicane, the Scotiane, French, Heluetian former, and later, the Belgie, Polonie, Argentine, Augustane, Saxonicke, Wirtenbergicke, Palatine, Bohemicke or Weldensian confession.
1632 J. Story tr. Short Surv. Sweden 76 To professe the reformed religion, according to the confession of Ausbourg or Augustane confession.
1643 Acts Gen. Assembly Edinb. 19 Aug. Sess. 14 The union of this Island in one Form of Kirk-government, one Confession of Faith, one Catechism.
1836 R. Whately Elem. Logic (ed. 6) 371 App. The correctness of a formal and deliberate confession of Faith, is not always, of itself, a sufficient safeguard against error.
1861 A. P. Stanley Lect. Eastern Church (1869) iv. 149 The Nicene Creed remained the one public confession.
1874 J. Morley On Compromise 132 We see the same men..uttering assents to confessions of which they really reject every syllable..and who do not know that they are acting a part, and making a mock both of their own reason and their own probity.
b. The religious body or church united by one Confession of Faith; a communion.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > religion > a religion or church > [noun]
churcheOE
kirkc1175
spousea1200
lawa1225
lorea1225
religionc1325
faithc1384
sectc1386
seta1387
leara1400
hirselc1480
professiona1513
congregation1526
communion1553
schism1555
segregation1563
sex1583
hortus conclususa1631
confessiona1641
dispensation1643
sectary1651
churchship1675
cult1679
persuasion1732
denomination1746–7
connection1753
covenant1818
sectarism1821
organized religion1843
a1641 R. Montagu Acts & Monuments (1642) Those right learned..Clerks of his owne Confession.
III. The place where a confessor is buried.
8. A tomb in which a martyr or confessor is buried, and, by extension, the whole structure erected over it; also, the crypt or shrine under the high-altar, or the part of the altar, in which the relics are placed. Called also confessionary n. and †confessional n.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > division of building (general) > crypt > [noun] > under high altar, containing relics
confession1670
confessional1705
confessionary1728
1670 S. Wilson Lassels's Voy. Italy (new ed.) ii. 37 This place because it conserues the body..of S. Peter, is called, the Confession of Peter.
1670 S. Wilson Lassels's Voy. Italy (new ed.) ii. 41 Neare the Confession of S. Peter, is an old brazen statue of S. Peter.
1845 J. Lingard Hist. & Antiq. Anglo-Saxon Church (ed. 3) II. vii. 40 A chest of oak or stone, called sometimes the confession, sometimes the sepulchre, had been prepared: in it he deposited three portions of the eucharist together with the relics; the slab was then placed over it, and the masonry of the altar, if it were built of stone, hastily completed.
1847 Ld. Lindsay Sketches Hist. Christian Art I. 66 (S. Mark's) The confession, or ciborium, within the sanctuary, is also highly curious.
1885 W. E. Addis & T. Arnold Catholic Dict. (ed. 3) 207/1 s.v. If an altar was erected over the grave, then the name ‘confession’ was given to the tomb, the altar, and the cubiculum.
Compounds
C1. attributive, as confession-chair, confession-money, confession-seat, etc.
ΚΠ
1674 T. Blount Glossographia (ed. 4) Confessionary..also, a Confession-seat.
1691 A. Gavin Observ. Journy to Naples 319 Walking in their Churches about their Confession-chairs from Morning to Night.
1709 D. Defoe Life Rozelli (1713) I. 29 I had sat myself down in a Confession-Chair.
1844 S. Smith Wks. (1867) II. 338 Twice a year the holy man collects confession money, under the denomination of Christmas and Easter offerings.
1865 Union Rev. 3 614 The confession-bell at the London oratory.
C2.
confession album n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > book > kind of book > [noun] > blank book to contain collections > of questions on likes or dislikes, for visitors
confession album1906
society > communication > manifestation > disclosure or revelation > [noun] > self-revelation > confession > book of questions
confession album1906
1906 Daily Chron. 27 Sept. 4/7 ‘If not yourself, who would you rather be?’ was a favourite question of the confession album of the seventies.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xiii. [Nausicaa] 347 She got a keepsake from Bertha Supple of that lovely confession album with the coralpink cover to write her thoughts in.
confession book n. a book of questions to be answered on personal likes and dislikes; also a book in which a visitor records a favourite poem, etc.
confession box n. = confessional-box at confessional n. 2c.
ΚΠ
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. v. [Lotus Eaters] 78 Old fellow asleep near that confessionbox.
confession magazine n. a magazine that purports to contain people's true confessions, life-stories, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > journalism > journal > periodical > [noun] > other periodicals
annals1763
scientific journal1797
story paper1849
woman's magazine1868
woman's mag1887
house journal1912
film magazine1916
digest1922
fan magazine1928
pulp magazine1929
confession magazine1931
slick1934
glossy1945
trade1949
photonovel1967
1931 F. L. Allen Only Yesterday v. 100 Sex magazines, confession magazines, and lurid motion pictures.
1932 S. Chase Mexico i. 17 Nobody [in Tepoztlan] sends copy to confession magazines.
1958 S. Ellin Eighth Circle (1959) ii. ii. 36 Miss Whiteside had..a passion for confession magazines.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
<
n.1377