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Webster 1913 Edition

Easter

Eas′ter

(ēs′tẽr)
,
Noun.
[AS.
eáster
,
eástran
, paschal feast, Easter; akin to G.
ostern
; fr. AS.
Eástre
, a goddess of light or spring, in honor of whom a festival was celebrated in April; whence this month was called in AS.
Eástermōnað
. From the root of E.
east
. See
East
.]
1.
An annual church festival commemorating Christ’s resurrection, and occurring on Sunday, the second day after Good Friday. It corresponds to the pascha or passover of the Jews, and most nations still give it this name under the various forms of
pascha
,
pasque
,
pâque
, or
pask
.
2.
The day on which the festival is observed; Easter day.
☞ Easter is used either adjectively or as the first element of a compound; as, Easter day or Easter-day, Easter Sunday, Easter week, Easter gifts, Easter eggs.
Sundays by thee more glorious break,
An
Easter
day in every week.
Keble.
☞ Easter day, on which the rest of the movable feasts depend, is always the first Sunday after the fourteenth day of the calendar moon which (fourteenth day) falls on, or next after, the 21st of March, according to the rules laid down for the construction of the calendar; so that if the fourteenth day happen on a Sunday, Easter day is the Sunday after.
Eng. Cyc.
Easter dues
(Ch. of Eng.)
,
money due to the clergy at Easter, formerly paid in communication of the tithe for personal labor and subject to exaction. For Easter dues, Easter offerings, voluntary gifts, have been substituted.
–
Easter egg
.
(a)
A painted or colored egg used as a present at Easter.
(b)
An imitation of an egg, in sugar or some fine material, sometimes made to serve as a box for jewelry or the like, used as an Easter present.

East′er

,
Verb.
I.
(Naut.)
To veer to the east; – said of the wind.
Russell.

Webster 1828 Edition

Easter

E'ASTER

,
Noun.
A festival of the christian church observed in commemoration of our Savior's resurrection. It answers to the pascha or passover of the Hebrews, and most nations still give it this name, pascha, pask, paque.

Definition 2024

Easter

Easter

See also: easter

English

Noun

Easter ‎(plural Easters)

  1. (Christianity) A Christian feast commemorating the resurrection of Christ; the first Sunday following the full moon that occurs on or next after the vernal equinox, neither earlier than March 22 nor later than April 25.
    We spent each of the past five Easters together as a family.
  2. Eastertide
  3. (obsolete) The Jewish Passover.
    • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Mark XIV:
      After two dayes folowed ester, and the dayes of swete breed.
  4. (paganism) A festival held in honour of the goddess Eostre or Ostara and celebrated at the spring equinox or within the month of April. Also known as Eostre.

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easter

easter

See also: Easter

English

Adjective

easter ‎(comparative more easter, superlative most easter)

  1. (now regional) Eastern. [from 8th c.]
    • 1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Oxford 2010, p. 57:
      In the mean while, as our apartment was a corner one, and looked both east and north, I ran to the easter casement to look after Drummond.

Anagrams

Etymology

From Old English ēastre, apparently from Ēastre, the name of a goddess whose festival was celebrated at the vernal equinox, from Proto-Germanic *Austrǭ. Compare German Ostern.

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