paternostern.
/ˌpatəˈnɒstə/, /ˈpatənɒstə/, U.S. /ˈpædərˌnɑstər/, /ˈpɑdərˌnɑstər/ (also, chiefly in sense 1)Brit. /ˌpɑːtəˈnɒstə/ I. The Lord's Prayer or a form of words resembling it.
1.
a. The Lord's Prayer, esp. the Latin version. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > prayer > kinds of prayer > [noun] > the Lord's Prayer
paternostereOE
patera1400
Lord's Prayer1538
Our Father1859
eOE Metrical Dialogue of Solomon & Saturn (Corpus Cambr. 422) i. 39 Ðæt gepalmtwigede Pater Noster heofonas ontyneð.
OE Ælfric Let. to Wulfsige (Corpus Cambr.) in B. Fehr Die Hirtenbriefe Ælfrics (1914) 15 Se mæssepreost sceal secgan..þæs godspelles angyt on englisc þam folce. And be þam pater nostre and be þam credan eac.
c1175 ( Ælfric Homily (Bodl. 343) in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies (1993) 40 Ælce dæȝe we biddæþ ure synne forȝifennysse on þam paternoster.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 25 (MED) Þu singest þe salm þat is cleped pater noster.
a1300 (c1275) Physiologus (1991) 87 His muð is get wel unkuð wið pater noster & crede.
1389 in J. T. Smith & L. T. Smith Eng. Gilds (1870) 20 Euery brother and sister..shul seyn..xx. sythes, ye pater noster.
a1450 (?a1390) J. Mirk Instr. Parish Priests (Claud.) (1974) 404 (MED) The pater noster and þe crede Preche þy paresche þou moste nede.
1572 R. Harrison tr. L. Lavater Of Ghostes i. vii. 33 Reherse thy Pater noster and thy Ave Maria.
1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 44 All our verball Pater noster Parrats, (that say nothing oftner, and meane nothing seldomer, than, Thy will be done).
1712 J. Arbuthnot John Bull Still in Senses ii. 11 Peg had taken a Fancy not to say her Pater-noster.
1740 R. Challoner Garden of Soul 98 At the Pater noster join with the priest in that sacred prayer.
1815 R. Southey Minor Poems II. 212 The multiplication-table was his Creed, His Pater-noster, and his Decalogue.
1876 G. Bancroft Hist. U.S. (rev. ed.) II. xxx. 248 She could repeat the paternoster fluently enough, but not quite correctly.
1929 E. C. Thomas Lay Folks' Hist. Liturgy xv. 69 Creed. Fraction. Memento for the Living. Pater noster.
1996 K. L. Jolly Pop. Relig. Late Saxon Eng. ii. 69 As a result of the priest's instruction, the laity should at least know the Paternoster and Creed.
b. An utterance (or in quot. OE an inscription) of the Lord's Prayer recited or repeated as an act of worship or private devotion. †the space of a paternoster: = paternoster-while n. at Compounds 2 (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > prayer > kinds of prayer > [noun] > the Lord's Prayer > repetition of
paternosterOE
the world > time > [noun] > stretch, period, or portion of time > time it takes to do a particular thing
paternoster-whilec1400
the space of a paternoster1561
travel time1851
airtime1928
run time1964
OE Prose Charm: Blessing for Crops (Vitell. E.xviii) in N. R. Ker Catal. MSS containing Anglo-Saxon (1957) 300 Writ on ægðerne sticcan..ælcere ecge an pater noster oð ende.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 23 Þisse wise ȝe maȝen ȝef ȝe wulleð seggen oure Pater nosteres.
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 2997 (MED) Ilke of you, with gode wille, Seye a pater-noster stille.
?1387 T. Wimbledon Serm. (Corpus Cambr.) (1967) 100 (MED) Vnneþe schal a man..þenke on God only þe space of a Pater Noster þat sum oþer þouȝt..entriþ into þe soule.
?c1450 in G. Müller Aus Mittelengl. Medizintexten (1929) 52 Sette þe doun on þin knes, and seye ix pater nostres.
1561 J. Hollybush tr. H. Brunschwig Most Excellent Homish Apothecarye f. 3 Let it so abyde the space of halfe a Pater-noster.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. iii. sig. C3v Nine hundred Pater nosters euery day, And thrise nine hundred Aues she was wont to say.
1681 N. Grew Musæum Regalis Societatis i. 175 The Worm will die within the space of a Pater Noster.
1798 T. Jones Memoirs (1951) 75 When the Corps was brought to the Grave—No Common prayer-book was to be found—so with a Pater-noster alone it was consigned to ye Earth.
1856 J. H. Newman Callista (1885) 330 He said out his seven pater nosters as he walked.
1927 E. Lewis Trader Horn (1930) i. iv. 61 He'd be down on his knees... Many a Paternoster he's sent up.
1991 P. O'Brian Nutmeg of Consol. (1993) iii. 78 Sleep came at once, jumbling the last words of his paternoster.
2. † b. A tedious recital or utterance, esp. a nonsensical or officious one. Obsolete. rare.
a. A form of words repeated as or like a prayer, invocation, or charm (in quot. 1594 with reference to the recitation of the Lord's Prayer backwards). Chiefly in black paternoster n. a night spell recited to conjure up evil spirits or devils. devil's paternoster: see devil n. Compounds 3b; white paternoster n. a prayer or charm recited for protection against evil spirits at night; spec. the rhyme beginning ‘Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John’.to say an ape's paternoster: see ape n. 6.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > the occult > sorcery, witchcraft, or magic > enchantment or casting spells > [noun] > spell > kinds of
night-spellc1390
white paternosterc1390
back-pater-noster1561
counter-charm1601
witches' prayer1663
counter-spell1725
karakia1832
rune1841
black paternoster1851
conjure1873
the world > the supernatural > the occult > sorcery, witchcraft, or magic > enchantment or casting spells > [noun] > spell
galderOE
lede-runec1000
sigalderc1000
craftOE
lede spelc1275
charma1300
conjurisonc1380
conjurationa1398
incantation1412
saunter1562
blessing1572
fascination1572
spell1579
lot1625
cantation1656
cantion1656
take1678
jynx1693
cantrip1719
pishogue1829
brujería1838
paternoster1880
goofer1887
runea1935
c1390 G. Chaucer Miller's Tale 3485 Iesu Crist and seint Benedight, Blesse this hous from euery wikked wight, For the nyghtes uerye, the white Pater Noster [v.r. Pate noster].
1594 T. Nashe Terrors of Night sig. Diijv Euery thing must bee interpreted backward as Witches say their Pater-noster.
1608 J. White Way to True Church To Rdr. sig. **8 White Pater noster, Saint Peters brother..Open heauen yates, and steike hell yates: And let euery crysom child creepe to it owne mother: White Pater noster, Amen.
1851 H. W. Longfellow Golden Legend ii. 81 This is the Black Pater-noster... Open, open, hell's gates! Shut, shut, heaven's gates.
1880 ‘Ouida’ Moths I. v. 131 Noblesse oblige,..that paternoster of princes.
1971 K. Thomas Relig. & Decline of Magic vii. 181 The so-called White Paternoster, of which a version survives in the children's prayer: ‘Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Bless the bed that I lie on’.
1993 P. C. Smith in M. M. Tokarcyk & E. A. Fay Working-class Women in Acad. 129 In her room I whispered to her the prayer..I now know is called ‘The White Paternoster’s.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > copiousness > [noun] > prolixity > prolix passage > rigmarole
Ragman?1507
rat-rane1513
rat-rhyme1553
reavel-ravel1568
paternoster1651
kyrielle1653
rat1671
rigmarolec1736
nominy?1746
Megillah1911
1651 N. Biggs Matæotechnia Medicinæ Praxeωs 106 It is not my task or designe, neither do I seek or care to supplant them from their pater-noster or All-gospel, being such as my soul abhors.
1669 J. Dryden Wild Gallant i. i. 7 Hold your prating Frances; or I'll put you out of your Pater Nosters with a sorrow to you.
1822 J. Galt Provost xxxi. 236 When the bailie had made an end of his pater-noster.
II. A rosary and things resembling it.† 4. A measure of flax (see quot. 1688). Obsolete. [Perhaps with reference to the occurrence in a rosary of a bead indicating that the Lord's Prayer is to be said after ten beads indicating a decade of Hail Marys.]
3. A set of rosary beads; (formerly also) †each of the special beads in a rosary that indicate that the Lord's Prayer is to be said, of a different size or material from the rest and occurring at regular intervals (obsolete). Now chiefly historical. †pair of paternosters: a set of rosary beads (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > implement (general) > rosary > [noun] > bead of > indicating paternoster is to be said
paternosterc1275
gaud1390
gaudy1434
society > faith > artefacts > implement (general) > rosary > [noun]
rosary1548
bead-roll1598
rosario1622
prayer bead1630
fifteen1688
paternoster1870
c1275 Lutel Soth Serm. (Calig.) 67 in R. Morris Old Eng. Misc. (1872) 190 (MED) Atom [= at home] his hire pater noster biloken in hire teye.
1317 in H. T. Riley Memorials London (1868) 124 (MED) [One pair of] paternostres [of pearls].
?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 130 The Kyng..hathe abouten his Nekke 300 Perles oryent, gode and grete, and knotted, as Pater Nostres here of Amber.
1463 in S. Tymms Wills & Inventories Bury St. Edmunds (1850) 36 A peyre of bedys with pater nostris of gold, and on eche syde of the paternostris a bede of coral.
1588 T. Hickock tr. C. Federici Voy. & Trauaile f. 38v Great store of Paternosters or beads, made of paltrie glasse.
1615 J. Loiseau de Tourval tr. H. de Feynes Exact Surv. E. Indies 28 A certaine kind of wood called Calamba: for which the Portugalls pay 100. crownes a pound, to make Pater-Nosters with.
1643 Certaine Informations &c. No 14. 127 They found a Portmantle, wherein were Popish Paternosters and Beades.
1798 A. Plumptre Count of Burgundy i. i. 7 I stretch forth my hand to seize a lance, but lay hold only on a pater-noster.
1870 J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. XII. xxxiv. 334 In her hand she held a crucifix of ivory, and a number of jewelled pater~nosters was attached to her girdle.
1969 E. Wilkins Rose-garden Game ii. 59 The..Chatsworth paternoster..has a terminal bead that is a little hinged box, which opens to show two miniature relief carvings.
1995 S. K. Penman When Christ & his Saints Slept (1996) xi. 177 I'll be out straight-away; I left my pater noster in the choir.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > flax, hemp, or jute > [noun] > bundle of > of specific measurement or weight
paternoster1659
pigc1860
1659 in Quarter Sessions Rec. (N. Riding Rec. Soc.) (1888) VI. 14 A woman for stealing three pounds of paternoster flacks.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 106/2 Pater Noster, ten handfulls [of flax] in a strick, is 2 pounds.
5. A thing consisting of a long series of identical objects.† b. Architecture. A row of bead-like ornaments. Obsolete. N.E.D. (1904) notes ‘In Chambers' Cycl. from Fr[ench]., and repeated in some later works, but apparently never in Eng[lish]. use.’
a. Angling. In full paternoster line. A fishing line with a weight at the end, to which hooks are attached at intervals.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > fishing-line > [noun] > paternoster
paternoster1676
1676 I. Walton Compleat Angler (ed. 5) i. xv. 215 Bleak..may be caught with a Pater-noster line, that is, six or eight very small hooks tied along the line one half a foot above the other.
1718 G. Jacob Compl. Sportsman 148 The Bleak..may be taken..with a Line called a Paternoster Line, (viz.) a Line having six or eight small Hooks.
1839 T. C. Hofland Brit. Angler's Man. i. 6 The paternoster is a line used for perch-fishing.
1894 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Sept. 427/1 Fishing with an ordinary two-hook paternoster will catch many more fish.
1931 Hardy's Anglers' Guide 370 A direct pull boom, which can be instantly attached to or detached from the paternoster, without cutting the gut or removing hooks, lead, etc.
1990 Compl. Angler's Guide Spring 65/4 Our end tackles did vary somewhat... Mine was a two boomed stainless paternoster.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > architecture > architectural ornament > [noun] > other ornaments
pommela1300
crest1430
finial1448
balloon1592
brattishingc1593
knob1610
cartouche1611
ogive1611
fret1626
galace1663
acroterion1664
paternoster1728
semi-urn1742
patera1776
purfling1780
sailing course1807
vesica piscis (also piscium)1809
antefix1819
vesica1820
garland1823
stop1825
Aaron's rod1830
headwork1831
Vitruvian scroll1837
hip knob1838
stelea1840
ball-flower1840
notch-head1843
brandishing1846
buckle1848
cat's-head1848
bucrane1854
cresting1869
semi-ball1875
canephorus1880
crest-board1881
wave pattern1905
husk1934
foliate head1939
green man1939
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. Pater-nosters, in Architecture, are certain Ornaments..cut in form of Beads, round, or Oval.
1823–5 P. Nicholson New Pract. Builder 589 Paternosters, a sort of ornament in form of beads, rond or oval, on astragals, &c.
1842 J. Gwilt Encycl. Archit. Gloss. 1013 Paternosters, a species of ornament in the shape of beads, either round or oval, used in baguettes.
6. A lift consisting of a set of linked doorless compartments moving continuously on an endless belt so as to allow entry at any time and exit on any floor. More fully paternoster lift, (chiefly U.S.) paternoster elevator.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > other means of conveyance > [noun] > lift or hoist > types of
Jacob's ladder1845
airlift1881
paternoster1912
1912 Engineering Index 31 72/2 The ‘Paternoster’ continuous elevator (Ascensori a movimento continuo, o ascensori ‘Paternoster’). U. Quintavalle. An endless chain elevator with several compartments.
1937 Discovery Dec. 388/2 Lifts and conveyors of the ‘Paternoster’ type have been installed.
1971 ‘R. Lewis’ Error of Judgment vi. 205 A small square landing at the end of the corridor and directly in front of the paternosters.
1990 Foundry Managem. & Technol. (Nexis) Mar. 38 A vertical system of..molds, endlessly recycled to the top of the stack (similar to a ‘paternoster’ elevator's operation).
2002 Industr. Robot (Nexis) 29 Conventional tray and shelving arrangements or paternosters would have required redundant space in order to give a manipulator arm access to each tube.
Compounds
C1. † paternoster man n. Obsolete rare† paternoster-monger n. Obsolete rare† paternoster ring n. Obsolete rare
paternoster-maker n. now historical and rare
ΚΠ
1369 in R. R. Sharpe Cal. Wills Court of Husting (1890) II. 132 (MED) [Bonere, Geoffrey], paternostermakere.
1598 J. Stow Suruay of London 274 There dwelled also turners of Beades, and they were called Pater Noster makers.
1871 Harper's Mag. Feb. 353/2 The paternoster-makers and pearl-makers..formed in the last century one of the numerous trade corporations established in the good city of Paris.
1996 J. C. Cooper Dict. Christianity 205/2 Paternoster Row (London) was probably so named from the rosary or paternoster makers.
ΚΠ
1579 T. Churchyard Miserie of Flaunders sig. A.iv The Pater noster men, Or Mal content, thei saie: Hath brought our people suche a plague, as breeds their whole decaie.
1681 Heraclitus Ridens 26 July 2/2 I believe ere long Plotting..will be no Treason in a Paternoster man.
ΚΠ
1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 349 Praiers..far more prevalent, than those Verball Pater-noster-Mongers utter over a Bead~roule.
ΚΠ
1502 Will of Thomas Bradmere (P.R.O.: PROB. 11/13) f. 78v A Pater noster ryng with a diamonde.
C2. † paternoster tackle n. Angling Obsolete tackle used in conjunction with a paternoster line; also figurative.
paternoster lake n. Physical Geography each of a line of lakes in a glaciated valley.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > lake > [noun] > other types
pene-lake1668
salina1697
slough1714
salt lake1763
bayou1766
lagoon1769
cut-off1773
prairie1820
maar1826
boating lake1834
serpentine1837
soda lake1839
bitter lake1843
stream-lake1867
shott1878
crater-lake1879
playa1885
oxbow lake1887
kettle-hole lake1902
mortlake1902
oxbow1902
seepage lake1934
paternoster lake1942
soda pan1976
1942 C. A. Cotton Climatic Accidents Landscape-making xix. 256 If the step-tread basins are occupied by lakes..these may follow one another like beads upon a string—‘paternoster lakes’.
1982 Jrnl. Biogeogr. 9 456/2 These are mainly cirque lakes and some are rock-barrier paternoster lakes.
paternoster lift n. see sense 6.
paternoster line n. see sense 5a.
paternoster peas n. rare the seeds of the jequirity, Abrus precatorius, often used in rosaries.
ΚΠ
1904 N.E.D. at Paternoster n. Paternoster-pea.
1991 F. C. Blodi tr. J. Hirschberg Hist. Ophthalmol. X. 285 Jequirity is the Brazilian name for the pea of a bush..which has been known in East India since time immemorial... The smooth hard peas are mainly used to make rosaries and are therefore called by the population ‘paternoster peas’.
paternoster pump n. a kind of chain-pump in which a succession of discs or rags is fixed to an endless chain that passes upwards through a tube whose lower end is in water, the discs or rags forming a seal against the tube so that they lift water up inside it.
ΚΠ
1874 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. I. 520/1 When packed pistons are used, they are termed paternoster pumps, from the resemblance of the chain and buttons to the rosary.
1965 J. Needham Sci. & Civilisation in China ii. 350 This..had long existed under the name of the ‘paternoster pump’ or ‘rag-and-chain pump’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > [noun] > kind of
prick-tackle1463
ledger-tackle1653
fly-tackle1834
otter1834
bait-tackle1835
paternoster tackle1852
spinning-tackle1856
otter-line1862
traveller1864
skate1882
sea-ledger1887
otter1898
otter-board1901
ripper1925
salmon tackle-
1852 Fraser's Mag. Nov. 555 And the book is a sham..a piece of ‘paternoster tackle’, baited with a gudgeon for German democrats.
1894 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Sept. 427/2 Two rods, on both of which was light paternoster tackle.
paternoster wheel n. a device for raising water by means of a series of buckets on a chain; a noria.
ΚΠ
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 1637/1 Paternoster-wheel, a water-raising device having a number of buckets on a chain. Named from its resemblance to the rosary.
1975 Isis 66 419/2 The ‘Great Wheels’ of Hamā in Syria and the disputed paternoster wheel in Philo of Byzantium's Pneumatics, are not discussed in depth.
paternoster-while n. now historical the time it takes to say a paternoster.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > [noun] > stretch, period, or portion of time > time it takes to do a particular thing
paternoster-whilec1400
the space of a paternoster1561
travel time1851
airtime1928
run time1964
c1400 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Trin. Cambr. R.3.14) (1960) A. v. 189 (MED) He pisside a potel in a paternoster while.
1594 T. Nashe Vnfortunate Traveller sig. K3v A man that hath an vneuitable huge stone hanging only by a haire ouer his head, which he lookes euerie Pater noster while to fall and pash him in peeces, will not he be submissiuely sorrowfull for his transgressions.
a1658 A. Farindon Serm. (1849) IV. 241 We may do it in a Pater-noster-while.
1888 R. L. Stevenson Black Arrow i. vii. 84 As though the bearer had run for a pater-noster-while.
1944 G. G. Coulston Fourscore Yrs xxxiv. 331 This..would have taken him just about what our medieval ancestors defined as ‘a paternoster-while’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
paternosterv.
/ˌpatəˈnɒstə/, U.S. /ˈpædərˌnɑstər/, /ˈpɑdərˌnɑstər/ Angling. rare.
1. intransitive. To fish with a paternoster line.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > type or method of fishing > [verb (intransitive)] > fish with hook > with number of hooks
scratch1659
spiller1836
otter1861
paternoster1891
1891 Field 21 Nov. 774/2 He paternostered while I spun.
1988 Coarse Fishing Handbk. June–July (Suppl.) 27/2 If I want to paternoster, I have a 1 oz. bomb ready tied to about three feet of weak-link line.
2. transitive. To attach (bait) to a paternoster.
ΚΠ
1987 Coarse Angler Feb. 37/3 If a basin is being fished then a livebait will be paternostered at the up-wind or flow side of the bay.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.eOE
v.1891