NationStates Jolt Archive


"Religion" put at last to rest.

New Granada
03-02-2005, 05:55
Having consulted the Oxford English Dictionary I have seen fit to post its definition of the word "religion."


. a. A state of life bound by monastic vows; the condition of one who is a member of a religious order, esp. in the Roman Catholic Church.

†b. man, etc. of religion, one bound by monastic vows or in holy orders. Obs.

†c. house, etc. of religion, a religious house, a monastery or nunnery. Obs.

2. a. A particular monastic or religious order or rule; †a religious house. Now rare.

†b. collect. People of religion. Obs.

†c. A member of a religious order. Obs.

3. a. Action or conduct indicating a belief in, reverence for, and desire to please, a divine ruling power; the exercise or practice of rites or observances implying this. Also pl., religious rites. Now rare, exc. as implied in 5.

†b. A religious duty or obligation. Obs.

4. a. A particular system of faith and worship.

†b. the Religion [after F.]: the Reformed Religion, Protestantism. Obs.

c. religion of nature: the worship of Nature in place of a more formal system of religious belief.

5. a. Recognition on the part of man of some higher unseen power as having control of his destiny, and as being entitled to obedience, reverence, and worship; the general mental and moral attitude resulting from this belief, with reference to its effect upon the individual or the community; personal or general acceptance of this feeling as a standard of spiritual and practical life.

b. to get religion: see get v. 12d.

†c. Awe, dread. Obs. rare—1.

6. transf. †a. Devotion to some principle; strict fidelity or faithfulness; conscientiousness; pious affection or attachment. Obs.

b. In phr. to make (a) religion of or to make (it) religion to, to make a point of, to be scrupulously careful (†not) to do something.

†7. The religious sanction or obligation of an oath, etc. Obs.

8. attrib. and Comb., as religion-complex, -dresser, -game, -making, -mender, -monger, -shop; religion-arousing, -infectious, -masked, -raptured adjs.; †religion man = sense 1b.
Hammolopolis
03-02-2005, 06:00
Main Entry: ob·vi·ous
Pronunciation: 'äb-vE-&s
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin obvius, from obviam in the way, from ob in the way of + viam, accusative of via way -- more at OB-, VIA
1 archaic : being in the way or in front
2 : easily discovered, seen, or understood
synonym see EVIDENT
- ob·vi·ous·ness noun