Ho"ly (?), a.
[Compar. Holier (?);
superl. Holiest.] [OE. holi,
hali, AS. hālig, fr. hæl health,
salvation, happiness, fr. hāl whole, well; akin to OS.
h?lag, D. & G. heilig, OHG. heilac, Dan.
hellig, Sw. helig, Icel. heilagr. See
Whole, and cf. Halibut, Halidom, Hallow,
Hollyhock.] 1. Set apart to the service
or worship of God; hallowed; sacred; reserved from profane or common
use; holy vessels; a holy priesthood.
"Holy rites and solemn feasts." Milton.
2. Spiritually whole or sound; of unimpaired
innocence and virtue; free from sinful affections; pure in heart;
godly; pious; irreproachable; guiltless; acceptable to God.
Now through her round of holy thought
The Church our annual steps has brought.
Keble.
Holy Alliance (Hist.), a league
ostensibly for conserving religion, justice, and peace in Europe, but
really for repressing popular tendencies toward constitutional
government, entered into by Alexander I. of Russia, Francis I. of
Austria, and Frederic William III. of Prussia, at Paris, on the 26th
of September, 1815, and subsequently joined by all the sovereigns of
Europe, except the pope and the king of England. -- Holy
bark. See Cascara sagrada. -- Holy
Communion. See Eucharist. -- Holy
family (Art), a picture in which the infant
Christ, his parents, and others of his family are represented. -
- Holy Father, a title of the pope. --
Holy Ghost (Theol.),the third person of
the Trinity; the Comforter; the Paraclete. -- Holy
Grail. See Grail. -- Holy
grass (Bot.), a sweet-scented grass
(Hierochloa borealis and H. alpina). In the north of
Europe it was formerly strewed before church doors on saints' days;
whence the name. It is common in the northern and western parts of
the United States. Called also vanilla, or Seneca, grass.
-- Holy Innocents' day, Childermas day. --
Holy Land, Palestine, the birthplace of
Christianity. -- Holy office, the
Inquisition. -- Holy of holies
(Script.), the innermost apartment of the Jewish
tabernacle or temple, where the ark was kept, and where no person
entered, except the high priest once a year. -- Holy
One. (a) The Supreme Being; -- so
called by way of emphasis. " The Holy One of Israel."
Is. xliii. 14. (b) One separated to the
service of God. -- Holy orders. See
Order. -- Holy rood, the cross or
crucifix, particularly one placed, in churches. over the entrance to
the chancel. -- Holy rope, a plant, the
hemp agrimony. -- Holy Saturday
(Eccl.), the Saturday immediately preceding the festival
of Easter; the vigil of Easter. -- Holy
Spirit, same as Holy Ghost (above). --
Holy Spirit plant. See Dove plant.
-- Holy thistle (Bot.), the blessed
thistle. See under Thistle. -- Holy
Thursday. (Eccl.) (a) (Episcopal
Ch.) Ascension day. (b) (R. C.
Ch.) The Thursday in Holy Week; Maundy Thursday. --
Holy war, a crusade; an expedition carried on
by Christians against the Saracens in the Holy Land, in the eleventh,
twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, for the possession of the holy
places. -- Holy water (Gr. & R. C.
Churches), water which has been blessed by the priest for
sacred purposes. -- Holy-water stoup, the
stone stoup or font placed near the entrance of a church, as a
receptacle for holy water. -- Holy Week
(Eccl.), the week before Easter, in which the passion of
our Savior is commemorated. -- Holy writ,
the sacred Scriptures. " Word of holy writ."
Wordsworth.