Webster's Third New International Dictionary
(1971)
[page 1961]
rit-u-al (rich'oo-el), n. 1. an established or prescribed procedure
for a religious or other rite. 2. a system or collection of religious
or other rites.
3. observance of set forms in public worship.
4.
a book of rites or ceremonies. 5.
a book containing the offices
to be used by priests in administering the sacraments and for visitation
of the sick, burial of the dead, etc. 6. a prescribed or established
rite, ceremony, proceeding, or service: the ritual of the dead. 7.
prescribed, established, or ceremonial acts or features collectively, as
in religious services. 8. any practice or pattern of behavior
regularly performed in a set manner. 9. a prescribed code of behavior
regulating social conduct, as that exemplified by the raising of one's
hat or the shaking of hands in greeting. 10. Psychiatry. a specific
act, as hand-washing, performed repetitively to a pathological degree,
occurring as a common symptom of obsessive-compulsive neurosis. óadj. 11.
of the nature of or practiced as a rite or ritual: a ritual dance. 12.
of or pertaining to rites or ritual: ritual laws. [1560-70, < L ritualis
equiv. to ritu-, s. of ritus RITE + -alis ?AL l ] órit'u-al-ly,
adv.
-Syn. 1. See ceremony. 11. ceremonial, formal,
sacramental.
[page 1996]
sac'ri-fice (sak' re-fis), n., v., -ficed,
-fic-ing
n. 1. the offering of animal, plant, or human life or of some material
possession to a deity, as in propitiation or homage.
2. the person,
animal, or thing so offered. 3. the surrender or destruction
of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as
having a higher or more pressing claim. 4. the thing so surrendered or
devoted. 5. a loss incurred in selling something below its value.
6. Also called sac'-ri-fice burnt, sac' ri-fice hit.
Baseball. a bunt made when there are fewer than two players out, not resulting
in a double play, that advances the base runner nearest home without an
error being committed if there is an attempt to put the runner out, and
that results in either the batter's being put out at first base, reaching
first on an error made in the attempt for the put-out, or being safe because
of an attempt to put out another runner. -v.t. 7. to make
a sacrifice or offering of. 8. to surrender or give up, or
permit injury or disadvantage to, for the sake of something else. 9.
to dispose of (goods, property, etc.) regardless of profit. 10.
Baseball. to cause the advance of (a base runner) by a sacrifice. -v.i.
11.
Baseball. to make a sacrifice: He sacrificed with two on and none out.
12. to offer or make a sacrifice. [1225-75; (n.) ME < 0F <
L sacrificium, equiv. to sacri- (comb. form of sacer
holy) + -fic-, comb. form of facere to make, DO' + -ium -IUM; (v.)
ME sacrifisen, deriv. of the n.] -sac'ri-fice-able, adj.
-sac'ri-fi-cer,
n.
-Syn. 8. relinquish, forgo, renounce. |