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Webster 1913 Edition

(vĕs′pẽr)

Noun.

[L., the evening, the evening star, the west; akin to Gr.

ἕσπερος

ἑσπέρα

, and perhaps to E.

west

. Cf.

The evening star; Hesper; Venus, when seen after sunset; hence, the evening.

Shak.

Adj.

Of or pertaining to the evening, or to the service of vespers;

as, a

vesper

hymn;

vesper

bells

Vesper sparrow

the grass finch. See under

Noun.

[L. This word and Hesperus are probably of one origin, and both from the root of west.]

The evening star; Venus; also, the evening.

Vespers, in the plural, the evening song or evening service in the Romish church.

Sicilian vespers, the era of the general massacre of the French in Sicily, or Easter evening, 1282, at the toll of the bell for vespers.