Pentecost

Proper noun

Pentecost (plural Pentecosts)

1. (Judaism) Synonym of Shavuot (“a Jewish harvest festival which falls on the sixth day of Sivan in the spring, fifty days after the second day of the Passover when the omer (“sheaf of barley”) is offered; a ceremony held on that day to commemorate the giving of the Torah (“first five books of the Hebrew scriptures”) to Moses and the Israelites on Mount Sinai”).
   • Novv vvhen I vvas come home againe, & my vvife Anna vvas reſtored vnto me vvith my ſonne Tobias, in the feaſt of Pentecoſte, vvhich is the holy feaſt of the ſeuen vvekes, there vvas a great dinner prepared me, in the vvhich I ſate dovvne to eat.1560, [William Whittingham et al., transl.], The Bible and Holy Scriptures Conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament. […] (the Geneva Bible), Geneva: […] Rouland Hall, →OCLC, Tobit II:1, folio 405...
   • And when the day of Pentecoſt was fully come, they [the Apostles] were all with one accord in one place. And ſuddenly there came a ſound from heauen as of a ruſhing mighty wind, and it filled all the houſe where they were ſitting. And there appeared vnto them clouen tongues, like as of fire, and it...1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 2:1–4, signature [L6], recto, column 2

   Synonyms:

   Feast of Weeks, Shavuos, Shavuot

2. (broadly) A festival which falls on the seventh Sunday after Easter which commemorates the event described in Acts 2 of the Bible when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles during the Jewish festival of Pentecost (proper noun sense 1), conferring on them the miraculous ability to explain the gospel in languages they did not know; also, the Sunday on which the festival is celebrated.
   • 1. Capu[let]. […] [G]ood Cozin Capulet, / For you and I are paſt our dauncing dayes: / Hovv long iſt novv ſince laſt your ſelfe and I / VVere in a maske? / 2. Capu. Be'r [By our] lady thirtie yeares. / 1. Capu. VVhat man tis not ſo much, tis not ſo much, / Tis ſince the nuptiall of Lucientio: /...c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Iuliet. […] (Second Quarto), London: […] Thomas Creede, for Cuthbert Burby, […], published 1599, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v], signature...
   • The ſacrament of baptiſm vvas regularly adminiſtered by the biſhop himſelf, vvith his aſſiſtant clergy, in the cathedral church of the dioceſe, during the fifty days betvveen the ſolemn feſtivals of Eaſter and Pentecoſt; and this holy term admitted a numerous band of infants and adult perſons into...1781, Edward Gibbon, “The Motives, Progress, and Effects of the Conversion of Constantine—Legal Establishment and Constitution of the Christian or Catholic Church”, in The History of the Decline and...

   Synonyms:

   Whit, Whitsun, Whitsunday, Whit Sunday

3. (broadly) In full day of Pentecost or Pentecost day: the day on which the event commemorated by the festival (proper noun sense 2) occurred; also, the event itself.
   • [T]heſe three at ſeveral times did repreſent the perſon of God: Moſes, and his succeſſors the High Prieſts, and Kings of Judah, in the Old Teſtament: Chriſt himſelf, in the time he lived on earth: and the Apoſtles, and their succeſſors, from the day of Pentecoſt (vvhen the Holy Ghoſt deſcended on...1651, Thomas Hobbes, “Of the Number, Antiquity, Scope, Authority, and Interpreters of the Books of Holy Scripture”, in Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and...
   • But pray in vvhat language did Remi preach to theſe Bructeri and Sicambri? He ſpoke either Latin or VVelſh; and the Sicambri ſpoke the antient Teutonic. Remi, in all appearance, renevved the miracle of the Pentecoſt: Et unuſquiſquis intendebat linguam ſuam, And each underſtood his ovvn language.1765, Anthony Vadé [pseudonym; Voltaire, actually François-Marie Arouet], “Discourse Addressed to the Welsh. By Anthony Vade, brother of William.”, in T[obias] Smollett, T[homas] Francklin [et al.]...
4. (broadly) Synonym of Whitsuntide (“the week beginning on Whitsunday; also, the weekend which includes Whitsunday”).

   Synonyms:

   Whitsuntide

5. (broadly) The gift of the Holy Spirit to a Christian; also, the occurrence of this.
   • Ever the fiery Pentecost / Girds with one flame the countless host, / Trances the heart through chanting choirs, / And through the priest the mind inspires.1847, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “The Problem”, in Poems, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, page 19
   • Pentacostals claim to have a universal message. […] They think a new Pentecost is afoot, in which the Holy Spirit brings millions the good news of salvation in the hereafter and real blessings in the here and now.2005, Frank J Lechner, John Boli, “Expanding World Culture: Pentecostalism as a Global Movement”, in World Culture: Origins and Consequences, Malden, Mass.; Oxford, Oxfordshire: Blackwell Publishing...
6. A surname.