Ten Commandments

Proper noun

the Ten Commandments pl (plural only)

1. (plural, plural-only) A particular list of religious and moral imperatives which, according to the Old Testament of the Bible or the Hebrew Bible, were twice given or dictated by God to Moses on Mount Sinai and inscribed on two stone tablets.
   • A federal judge has temporarily blocked a Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom by the new year.2024 November 12, Lauren Mascarenhas and Isabel Rosales, “Federal judge temporarily blocks Louisiana law requiring classrooms to display Ten Commandments”, in CNN, archived from the original on 05...
2. (broadly, plural, plural-only) A list of principal rules in a given field.
   • These may well be the ten commandments of interpretation.1945, Joseph M. Gettys, How To Enjoy Studying The Bible, Richmond, VA: John Knox Press, page 38
   • […] he adds that they were very silly in doing so in the face of the devastating fact that people have made up ten commandments of business, ten commandments of educators, ten commandments of lovers, and ten commandments of many other human activities.1946 11, E. A. Mangan, “Ten Commandments or Ten Taboos?”, in The Liguorian, volume 34, number 11, Oconomowoc, WI: Liguori Publications, page 508
3. (dated, plural, plural-only, slang) The ten fingernails, used by women when fighting.
   • She'd drink the gin fust and give him her ten commandments artervards, when she'd aggerawated him to try it on.1876, Evening Hours, page 629
   • […] once or twice, when he cut up bad, she appeared to him, and scratched his face with her ten commandments […]1881, William Henry Thomes, Running the Blockade: Or, U. S. Secret Service Adventures, page 148