meditationn.

Brit.

/ˌmɛdᵻˈteɪʃn/, U.S.

/ˌmɛdəˈteɪʃ(ə)n/

Forms: Middle English meditacioun, Middle English meditaciun, Middle English meditacyone, Middle English meditatiun, Middle English medytacioun, Middle English medytacyone, Middle English medytacyoun, Middle English medytacyun, Middle English–1500s meditacione, Middle English–1500s meditacyon, Middle English–1500s medytacion, Middle English–1500s medytacyon, Middle English–1600s meditacion, 1500s– meditation; Scottish pre-1700 meditacion, pre-1700 meditacione, pre-1700 meditacioun, pre-1700 meditacioune, pre-1700 meditatioun, pre-1700 medytacyon, pre-1700 1700s– meditation.

Origin: Either (i) a borrowing from French. Or (ii) a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French meditacion; Latin meditātiōn-, meditātio.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman and Old French meditacion, meditatiun (c1120 in sense 1a; Middle French meditacion (1380 in sense 1b); French méditation ) or their etymon classical Latin meditātiōn-, meditātio reflection, contemplation (of an action), a rhetorical exercise, a practice < meditāt- , past participial stem of meditārī meditate v. + -iō -ion suffix¹.With sense 2 compare post-classical Latin meditationes (plural; from 1217 in work titles), and French méditation (1600 in a work title; 1647 as méditations, plural).

a. The action or practice of profound spiritual or religious reflection or contemplation; spec. a variety of private devotional exercise consisting of the continuous application of the mind to the contemplation of a particular religious text, truth, mystery, or object. Also: an instance of this.In Christian writing, meditation which engages the intellectual or discursive faculties is sometimes distinguished from contemplation which transcends them (cf. sense 1d).

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > contemplation or meditation > [noun]

contemplation?c1225

meditation?c1225

recollection1576

meditating1609

recollectednessa1699

mantra1794

recueillement1845

transcendental meditation1966

TM1967

?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 178 Naut ane hali meditaciuns as of ure lauerd & of alle hise werkes.

c1390 W. Hilton Mixed Life (Vernon) in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1895) I. 289 (MED) Þer are mony oþur meditacions..not as I hed fulli schewed þe maner of meditacions as þei are in a mannes soule.

1493 Chastysing Goddes Chyldern (de Worde) i. sig. Aij/1 Thenne cometh soo mery meditacyons wyth plente of teres of compascyon.

a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) Prol. 4 Þare in is discryued..the meditacioun of contemplatifs.

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. x. sig. K3^v Of God and goodnes was his meditation.

1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. i. vii. 244 That we, downe-treading earthly cogitations, May mount our thoughts to heau'nly meditations.

a1629 W. Hinde Faithfull Remonstr. (1641) xlv. 145 His first dayly duty, namely his holy and religious Meditation.

1704 M. Henry Communicant's Compan. vi, in Wks. (1853) I. 330/1 In meditation we converse with ourselves; in prayer we converse with God.

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones III. viii. xv. 297 Can a Man who, by Divine Meditations, is admitted, as it were, into the Conversation of this ineffable, incomprehensible Majesty, think Days, or Years, or Ages, too long, for the Continuance of so ravishing an Honour?

1893 C. Patmore Relig. Poetæ 34 The hour or half-hour of daily ‘meditation’..is now unheard of.

1897 Catholic Dict. (ed. 5) 618/1 It was St. Ignatius of Loyola who reduced the rules of meditation to a system.

1925 Cent. Mag. Jan. 339/1 The Irish clergy are a race of walkers, one meets them everywhere going quietly about their meditations.

1987 J. Diski Rainforest viii. 93 I imagine myself walking silent cloisters, my head bent in meditation.

b. gen. The action, or an act, of meditating; continuous thought or musing upon one subject or series of subjects; (a period of) serious and sustained reflection or mental contemplation.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > thought > continued thinking, reflection, contemplation > [noun]

thoughta1387

consideration1388

contemplationc1390

meditationa1393

musinga1393

speculationa1450

studier1472

musea1500

recollection1576

contemplature1580

rumination1585

contemplating1587

amuse1606

meditating1609

theory1611

meditancea1625

amusement1694

cogitabundation1729

cogibundity1734

cogitabundity1744

think1834

recueillement1845

thunk1922

noodling1942

the mind > mental capacity > thought > continued thinking, reflection, contemplation > [noun] > act(s) of

thinkingsa1225

meditationa1393

contemplationa1400

musing?a1430

reverie1477

musea1500

rumination1622

walking meditation1756

reckon1902

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) ii. 2876 Fro hevene as thogh a vois it were, To soune of such prolacioun That he his meditacioun Therof mai take.

a1438 Bk. Margery Kempe (1940) i. 198 (MED) Whan sche sey weddyngys..a-non sche had in meditacyon how owr Lady was joynyd to Ioseph.

a1500 in T. Wright Polit. Poems & Songs (1861) II. 242 That the heyere herd with good medytacioun May the pore peple swych wyse avaunce [etc.].

a1530 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfeccyon (1531) f. 233 Meditacyon is a profounde or studyous cogitacyon, about ony certeyn thynge.

1588 A. Fraunce Lawiers Logike i. i. f. 1 Reasoning may be..in solitary meditations and deliberations with a mans selfe.

1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream ii. i. 164 The imperiall Votresse passed on, In maiden meditation, fancy free.

1633 Earl of Manchester Al Mondo: Contemplatio Mortis (rev. ed.) 4 Meditation.., I saw was but a reiterated thought, proper to production of good or euill.

1712 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 8 Dec. (1965) I. 175 The terrace is..consecrated to meditation..gay or grave.

1766 A. Hume tr. S. A. D. Tissot Onanism viii. 75 The masturbator, entirely devoted to his filthy meditations.

1821 Ld. Byron Marino Faliero (2nd issue) ii. i. 42 My lord, pray pardon me For breaking in upon your meditation.

1833 E. Bulwer-Lytton Godolphin I. vi. 53 After a fortnight's delay and meditation, he wrote.

1846 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) i. 4 His meditations on the subject were soon interrupted, first by the rustling of garments on the staircase.

1883 R. L. Stevenson Silverado Squatters 229 It did not hold the attention, nor interrupt the thread of meditation, like a blackbird or a nightingale; it was mere woodland prattle, of which the mind was conscious like a perfume.

1937 R. K. Narayan Bachelor of Arts i. 16 Chandran..was settling down to further meditations on historians.

c. Thought or mental contemplation of something. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > thought > continued thinking, reflection, contemplation > thinking about, consideration, deliberation > [noun]

i-mindOE

studyinglOE

mindc1300

bethinking1340

poring1340

regard1348

weighingc1380

contemplationc1390

advisementa1393

deliberationa1393

advicec1405

reckoninga1413

visement?1414

considerancec1420

advisenessc1425

revolutionc1425

rewardc1432

mind-takingc1449

umbethinkingc1450

advisednessc1475

considering1483

beholding1530

meditationa1535

pondering1535

cogitation?1542

expending1545

ponderation1556

perpending1558

well weighing1566

surview1576

reflex1593

revolve1595

lucubration1596

agitation1600

perpension1612

vizamenta1616

pensitation1623

perpensation1623

perpendment1667

ruminating1668

commentationa1670

revolving1670

reflectiona1674

introspectiona1676

propendencya1676

ponderment1728

chawing1845

a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) iii. xvii. sig. Q.vi^v The flesh shrinketh at the meditacion of payne and death.

1596 E. Spenser Hymne Heauenly Loue in Fowre Hymnes 33 Thy softenend spirit Is inly toucht, and humbled with meeke zeale, Through meditation of his endlesse merit.

1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan ii. xxvii. 158 He ought by meditation of the Law, to rectifie the irregularity of his Passions.

1672 A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd i. 81 It is the wisdome of Cats to whet their Claws..in meditation of the next Rat they are to encounter.

1852 Littell's Living Age 21 Jan. 225/2 The negro..sat with his eyes fixed upon the deck, seemingly wrapped in meditation of the most awful forebodings.

1891 Cent. Mag. June 218 What had become of all those rules of prudent and judicial reserve which, in the meditation of her maidenhood, she had firmly decreed should govern her behavior when the prince should really come?

d. In Buddhism, Yoga, and other systems of religious or spiritual discipline: a practice of the mind (and body) aimed at achieving the eradication of rational or worldly mental activity.

ΚΠ

1727 J. G. Scheuchzer tr. E. Kæmpfer Hist. Japan I. iii. i. 242 A posture, which is thought to engage one's mind in so profound a meditation, and to wrap it up so entirely within itself, that the body lies for a while as it were sens less.

1850 R. S. Hardy Eastern Monachism xxi. 270 The word dhyána is said to mean, ‘that which burns up evil desire, or the cleaving to existence’. It is sometimes used in the sense of meditation.

1895 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 24 153 In these Votyak tales it is probable that reminiscences have been preserved of those visions which surrounded the shamanist adept during his solitary meditations.

1937 A. Huxley Ends & Means xiii. 247 It is possible for meditation to be practised by those who are neither extreme ascetics nor Hatha-Yogis.

1968 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 22 June 3/3 Of the Beatles he [sc. Maharishi Yogi] said ‘..They weren't prepared to end their beatledom for meditation.’

1991 M. Heim Erotic Ontol. Cyberspace in M. Benedikt Cyberspace (1993) 62 They wrote of the breathless union of meditation in terms of the ecstatic blackout of consciousness.

2. (Frequently in the titles of literary works.)

a. A discourse, written or spoken, in which a subject (usually religious) is treated in a meditative manner, or which is designed to guide the reader or hearer in meditation. Frequently in plural.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > other non-story prose > [noun] > meditative discourse

meditationc1390

contemplation1506

c1390 G. Chaucer Parson's Tale 55 This meditacioun, I putte it ay vnder correccioun Of clerkes.

a1400 (?a1325) Medit. on Supper of our Lord (Harl.) (1875) 1 (heading) Here bygynneþ medytacyuns of þe soper of oure lorde Ihesu.

1562 J. Bradford (title) Godlie meditations vpon the Lordes prayer.

1615 R. Bruch tr. J. Gerhard (title) The soules watch: or a day-booke for the devout Soule. Consisting of one and fiftie Meditations.

1748 Lady Luxborough Let. 28 May in Lett. to W. Shenstone (1775) 27 I grudge six shillings for Hervey's Meditations..but I want to see the frontispieces.

1850 R. W. Emerson Shakspeare in Representative Men v. 197 The Liturgy [is]..a translation of the prayers and forms of the Catholic church,—these collected, too, in long periods, from the prayers and meditations of every saint and sacred writer, all over the world.

1874 E. King (title) Meditations on the last seven words of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1964 C. V. Wedgwood Trial of Charles I (1967) ix. 233 The book was a series of reflections and religious meditations, interspersed with prayers, on the principal events of the King's reign.

1999 P. Batstone (title) Candles in draughty spaces: meditations for the millennium.

b. In extended use: a discursive treatment of or series of reflections upon a subject (as in literature, criticism, film, etc.).

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > a written composition > [noun] > thoughtful or reflective

meditation?a1603

pensée1886

?a1603 E. Grymeston Miscelanea (1604) xiii. sig. F, (title) Euening Meditation. Odes in imitation of the seuen pœntentiall Psalmes, in seuen seuerall kinde of verse.

1612 A. Stafford (title) Meditations and Revolutions, moral, divine, politicall.

1710 J. Swift (title) A meditation upon a broom-stick.

1711 Ld. Shaftesbury Characteristicks III. Misc. ii. iii. 95 The Essay-Writers,..Reflection-Coiners, Meditation-Founders, and others of the irregular kind of Writers.

1815 C. Nooth Orig. Poems (title of poem) Meditation on a guinea.

1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage xciv. 496 Now Athelny invited him to come over for a day, he had certain meditations on Shakespeare and the musical glasses which he desired to impart, and the children were clamouring for a sight of Uncle Philip.

1938 Times 30 Sept. 13/6 They [sc. the Carlists] find little inspiration in the obscurities with which the more wayward Falange writers overload their meditations.

1993 Guardian 11 Sept. (Weekend Suppl.) 24/4 Tarantino's real talent is for these longish meditations, taken at an eccentric, often witty angle, which is unusual in today's splat-gore films.

3. The subject of religious or spiritual reflection. Now archaic.In Psalm 119:97–9, Bk. Common Prayer (1662) has study (following the ‘Great Bible’ of 1539).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > thought > continued thinking, reflection, contemplation > [noun] > matter for contemplation

meditation1560

contemplation1614

considerable1642

considerability1652

contemplamen1678

1560 Bible (Geneva) Psalms cxix. 97 Oh how loue I thy Law! it is my meditacion [1611 meditation] continually.

1560 Bible (Geneva) Psalms cxix. 99 I haue had more vnderstanding then all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditacion [1611 meditation].

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	meditation
释义	meditationn. Brit. /ˌmɛdᵻˈteɪʃn/, U.S. /ˌmɛdəˈteɪʃ(ə)n/ Forms: Middle English meditacioun, Middle English meditaciun, Middle English meditacyone, Middle English meditatiun, Middle English medytacioun, Middle English medytacyone, Middle English medytacyoun, Middle English medytacyun, Middle English–1500s meditacione, Middle English–1500s meditacyon, Middle English–1500s medytacion, Middle English–1500s medytacyon, Middle English–1600s meditacion, 1500s– meditation; Scottish pre-1700 meditacion, pre-1700 meditacione, pre-1700 meditacioun, pre-1700 meditacioune, pre-1700 meditatioun, pre-1700 medytacyon, pre-1700 1700s– meditation. Origin: Either (i) a borrowing from French. Or (ii) a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French meditacion; Latin meditātiōn-, meditātio. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman and Old French meditacion, meditatiun (c1120 in sense 1a; Middle French meditacion (1380 in sense 1b); French méditation ) or their etymon classical Latin meditātiōn-, meditātio reflection, contemplation (of an action), a rhetorical exercise, a practice < meditāt- , past participial stem of meditārī meditate v. + -iō -ion suffix¹.With sense 2 compare post-classical Latin meditationes (plural; from 1217 in work titles), and French méditation (1600 in a work title; 1647 as méditations, plural). 1. a. The action or practice of profound spiritual or religious reflection or contemplation; spec. a variety of private devotional exercise consisting of the continuous application of the mind to the contemplation of a particular religious text, truth, mystery, or object. Also: an instance of this.In Christian writing, meditation which engages the intellectual or discursive faculties is sometimes distinguished from contemplation which transcends them (cf. sense 1d). ΘΚΠ society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > contemplation or meditation > [noun] contemplation?c1225 meditation?c1225 recollection1576 meditating1609 recollectednessa1699 mantra1794 recueillement1845 transcendental meditation1966 TM1967 ?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 178 Naut ane hali meditaciuns as of ure lauerd & of alle hise werkes. c1390 W. Hilton Mixed Life (Vernon) in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1895) I. 289 (MED) Þer are mony oþur meditacions..not as I hed fulli schewed þe maner of meditacions as þei are in a mannes soule. 1493 Chastysing Goddes Chyldern (de Worde) i. sig. Aij/1 Thenne cometh soo mery meditacyons wyth plente of teres of compascyon. a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) Prol. 4 Þare in is discryued..the meditacioun of contemplatifs. 1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. x. sig. K3^v Of God and goodnes was his meditation. 1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. i. vii. 244 That we, downe-treading earthly cogitations, May mount our thoughts to heau'nly meditations. a1629 W. Hinde Faithfull Remonstr. (1641) xlv. 145 His first dayly duty, namely his holy and religious Meditation. 1704 M. Henry Communicant's Compan. vi, in Wks. (1853) I. 330/1 In meditation we converse with ourselves; in prayer we converse with God. 1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones III. viii. xv. 297 Can a Man who, by Divine Meditations, is admitted, as it were, into the Conversation of this ineffable, incomprehensible Majesty, think Days, or Years, or Ages, too long, for the Continuance of so ravishing an Honour? View more context for this quotation 1893 C. Patmore Relig. Poetæ 34 The hour or half-hour of daily ‘meditation’..is now unheard of. 1897 Catholic Dict. (ed. 5) 618/1 It was St. Ignatius of Loyola who reduced the rules of meditation to a system. 1925 Cent. Mag. Jan. 339/1 The Irish clergy are a race of walkers, one meets them everywhere going quietly about their meditations. 1987 J. Diski Rainforest viii. 93 I imagine myself walking silent cloisters, my head bent in meditation. b. gen. The action, or an act, of meditating; continuous thought or musing upon one subject or series of subjects; (a period of) serious and sustained reflection or mental contemplation. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > thought > continued thinking, reflection, contemplation > [noun] thoughta1387 consideration1388 contemplationc1390 meditationa1393 musinga1393 speculationa1450 studier1472 musea1500 recollection1576 contemplature1580 rumination1585 contemplating1587 amuse1606 meditating1609 theory1611 meditancea1625 amusement1694 cogitabundation1729 cogibundity1734 cogitabundity1744 think1834 recueillement1845 thunk1922 noodling1942 the mind > mental capacity > thought > continued thinking, reflection, contemplation > [noun] > act(s) of thinkingsa1225 meditationa1393 contemplationa1400 musing?a1430 reverie1477 musea1500 rumination1622 walking meditation1756 reckon1902 a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) ii. 2876 Fro hevene as thogh a vois it were, To soune of such prolacioun That he his meditacioun Therof mai take. a1438 Bk. Margery Kempe (1940) i. 198 (MED) Whan sche sey weddyngys..a-non sche had in meditacyon how owr Lady was joynyd to Ioseph. a1500 in T. Wright Polit. Poems & Songs (1861) II. 242 That the heyere herd with good medytacioun May the pore peple swych wyse avaunce [etc.]. a1530 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfeccyon (1531) f. 233 Meditacyon is a profounde or studyous cogitacyon, about ony certeyn thynge. 1588 A. Fraunce Lawiers Logike i. i. f. 1 Reasoning may be..in solitary meditations and deliberations with a mans selfe. 1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream ii. i. 164 The imperiall Votresse passed on, In maiden meditation, fancy free. View more context for this quotation 1633 Earl of Manchester Al Mondo: Contemplatio Mortis (rev. ed.) 4 Meditation.., I saw was but a reiterated thought, proper to production of good or euill. 1712 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 8 Dec. (1965) I. 175 The terrace is..consecrated to meditation..gay or grave. 1766 A. Hume tr. S. A. D. Tissot Onanism viii. 75 The masturbator, entirely devoted to his filthy meditations. 1821 Ld. Byron Marino Faliero (2nd issue) ii. i. 42 My lord, pray pardon me For breaking in upon your meditation. 1833 E. Bulwer-Lytton Godolphin I. vi. 53 After a fortnight's delay and meditation, he wrote. 1846 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) i. 4 His meditations on the subject were soon interrupted, first by the rustling of garments on the staircase. 1883 R. L. Stevenson Silverado Squatters 229 It did not hold the attention, nor interrupt the thread of meditation, like a blackbird or a nightingale; it was mere woodland prattle, of which the mind was conscious like a perfume. 1937 R. K. Narayan Bachelor of Arts i. 16 Chandran..was settling down to further meditations on historians. c. Thought or mental contemplation of something. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > thought > continued thinking, reflection, contemplation > thinking about, consideration, deliberation > [noun] i-mindOE studyinglOE mindc1300 bethinking1340 poring1340 regard1348 weighingc1380 contemplationc1390 advisementa1393 deliberationa1393 advicec1405 reckoninga1413 visement?1414 considerancec1420 advisenessc1425 revolutionc1425 rewardc1432 mind-takingc1449 umbethinkingc1450 advisednessc1475 considering1483 beholding1530 meditationa1535 pondering1535 cogitation?1542 expending1545 ponderation1556 perpending1558 well weighing1566 surview1576 reflex1593 revolve1595 lucubration1596 agitation1600 perpension1612 vizamenta1616 pensitation1623 perpensation1623 perpendment1667 ruminating1668 commentationa1670 revolving1670 reflectiona1674 introspectiona1676 propendencya1676 ponderment1728 chawing1845 a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) iii. xvii. sig. Q.vi^v The flesh shrinketh at the meditacion of payne and death. 1596 E. Spenser Hymne Heauenly Loue in Fowre Hymnes 33 Thy softenend spirit Is inly toucht, and humbled with meeke zeale, Through meditation of his endlesse merit. 1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan ii. xxvii. 158 He ought by meditation of the Law, to rectifie the irregularity of his Passions. 1672 A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd i. 81 It is the wisdome of Cats to whet their Claws..in meditation of the next Rat they are to encounter. 1852 Littell's Living Age 21 Jan. 225/2 The negro..sat with his eyes fixed upon the deck, seemingly wrapped in meditation of the most awful forebodings. 1891 Cent. Mag. June 218 What had become of all those rules of prudent and judicial reserve which, in the meditation of her maidenhood, she had firmly decreed should govern her behavior when the prince should really come? d. In Buddhism, Yoga, and other systems of religious or spiritual discipline: a practice of the mind (and body) aimed at achieving the eradication of rational or worldly mental activity. ΚΠ 1727 J. G. Scheuchzer tr. E. Kæmpfer Hist. Japan I. iii. i. 242 A posture, which is thought to engage one's mind in so profound a meditation, and to wrap it up so entirely within itself, that the body lies for a while as it were sens less. 1850 R. S. Hardy Eastern Monachism xxi. 270 The word dhyána is said to mean, ‘that which burns up evil desire, or the cleaving to existence’. It is sometimes used in the sense of meditation. 1895 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 24 153 In these Votyak tales it is probable that reminiscences have been preserved of those visions which surrounded the shamanist adept during his solitary meditations. 1937 A. Huxley Ends & Means xiii. 247 It is possible for meditation to be practised by those who are neither extreme ascetics nor Hatha-Yogis. 1968 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 22 June 3/3 Of the Beatles he [sc. Maharishi Yogi] said ‘..They weren't prepared to end their beatledom for meditation.’ 1991 M. Heim Erotic Ontol. Cyberspace in M. Benedikt Cyberspace (1993) 62 They wrote of the breathless union of meditation in terms of the ecstatic blackout of consciousness. 2. (Frequently in the titles of literary works.) a. A discourse, written or spoken, in which a subject (usually religious) is treated in a meditative manner, or which is designed to guide the reader or hearer in meditation. Frequently in plural. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > other non-story prose > [noun] > meditative discourse meditationc1390 contemplation1506 c1390 G. Chaucer Parson's Tale 55 This meditacioun, I putte it ay vnder correccioun Of clerkes. a1400 (?a1325) Medit. on Supper of our Lord (Harl.) (1875) 1 (heading) Here bygynneþ medytacyuns of þe soper of oure lorde Ihesu. 1562 J. Bradford (title) Godlie meditations vpon the Lordes prayer. 1615 R. Bruch tr. J. Gerhard (title) The soules watch: or a day-booke for the devout Soule. Consisting of one and fiftie Meditations. 1748 Lady Luxborough Let. 28 May in Lett. to W. Shenstone (1775) 27 I grudge six shillings for Hervey's Meditations..but I want to see the frontispieces. 1850 R. W. Emerson Shakspeare in Representative Men v. 197 The Liturgy [is]..a translation of the prayers and forms of the Catholic church,—these collected, too, in long periods, from the prayers and meditations of every saint and sacred writer, all over the world. 1874 E. King (title) Meditations on the last seven words of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1964 C. V. Wedgwood Trial of Charles I (1967) ix. 233 The book was a series of reflections and religious meditations, interspersed with prayers, on the principal events of the King's reign. 1999 P. Batstone (title) Candles in draughty spaces: meditations for the millennium. b. In extended use: a discursive treatment of or series of reflections upon a subject (as in literature, criticism, film, etc.). ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > a written composition > [noun] > thoughtful or reflective meditation?a1603 pensée1886 ?a1603 E. Grymeston Miscelanea (1604) xiii. sig. F, (title) Euening Meditation. Odes in imitation of the seuen pœntentiall Psalmes, in seuen seuerall kinde of verse. 1612 A. Stafford (title) Meditations and Revolutions, moral, divine, politicall. 1710 J. Swift (title) A meditation upon a broom-stick. 1711 Ld. Shaftesbury Characteristicks III. Misc. ii. iii. 95 The Essay-Writers,..Reflection-Coiners, Meditation-Founders, and others of the irregular kind of Writers. 1815 C. Nooth Orig. Poems (title of poem) Meditation on a guinea. 1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage xciv. 496 Now Athelny invited him to come over for a day, he had certain meditations on Shakespeare and the musical glasses which he desired to impart, and the children were clamouring for a sight of Uncle Philip. 1938 Times 30 Sept. 13/6 They [sc. the Carlists] find little inspiration in the obscurities with which the more wayward Falange writers overload their meditations. 1993 Guardian 11 Sept. (Weekend Suppl.) 24/4 Tarantino's real talent is for these longish meditations, taken at an eccentric, often witty angle, which is unusual in today's splat-gore films. 3. The subject of religious or spiritual reflection. Now archaic.In Psalm 119:97–9, Bk. Common Prayer (1662) has study (following the ‘Great Bible’ of 1539). ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > thought > continued thinking, reflection, contemplation > [noun] > matter for contemplation meditation1560 contemplation1614 considerable1642 considerability1652 contemplamen1678 1560 Bible (Geneva) Psalms cxix. 97 Oh how loue I thy Law! it is my meditacion [1611 meditation] continually. 1560 Bible (Geneva) Psalms cxix. 99 I haue had more vnderstanding then all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditacion [1611 meditation]. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.?c1225
随便看	dairyhouse dairying dairyings dairymaid dairymaids dairyman dairymen dairypail dairyplace dairyschool dairysociety dairyware dairywench dairywife dairywoman dairywomen dairywork dais daisee daisee jute daises daishiki daishikis daisho daisied