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Webster 1913 Edition

Psalm

Psalm

,
Noun.
[OE.
psalm
,
salm
, AS.
sealm
, L.
psalmus
,
psalma
, fr. Gr. [GREEK], [GREEK], fr. [GREEK] to pull, twitch, to play upon a stringed instrument, to sing to the harp: cf. OF.
psalme
,
salme
, F.
psaume
.]
1.
A sacred song; a poetical composition for use in the praise or worship of God.
Humus devout and holy
psalms

Singing everlastingly.
Milton.
2.
Especially, one of the hymns by David and others, collected into one book of the Old Testament, or a modern metrical version of such a hymn for public worship.

Psalm

,
Verb.
T.
To extol in psalms; to sing;
as,
psalming
his praises
.
Sylvester.

Webster 1828 Edition

Psalm

PSALM

,
Noun.
s`am. [L. psalmus; Gr. to touch or beat, to sing.]
A sacred song or hymn; a song composed on a divine subject and in praise of God. The most remarkable psalms are those composed by David and other Jewish saints, a collection of one hundred and fifty of which constitutes a canonical book of the Old Testament, called Psalms, or the book of Psalms. The word is also applied to sacred songs composed by modern poets, being versifications of the scriptural psalms, or of these with other parts of Scripture, composed for the use of churches; as the Psalms of Tate and Brady, of Watts, &c.

Definition 2024

Psalm

Psalm

See also: psalm

German

Noun

Psalm m ‎(genitive Psalms or Psalmes, plural Psalmen)

  1. psalm

Declension

psalm

psalm

See also: Psalm

English

Noun

psalm ‎(plural psalms)

  1. (religion, music) A sacred song; a poetical composition for use in the praise or worship of God.
  2. One of the hymns by David and others, collected into one book of the Old Testament, or a modern metrical version of such a hymn for public worship.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

psalm ‎(third-person singular simple present psalms, present participle psalming, simple past and past participle psalmed)

  1. To extol in psalms; to make music; to sing
    to psalm his praises.
    • 2012, George D. Manjounes, Good Morning, Morning Glory
      I psalmed like a Moslem high in his mosque. And like a Greek priest, I sang the divine liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.

Translations

Anagrams

Dutch

Noun

psalm m ‎(plural psalmen, diminutive psalmpje n)

  1. (music) psalm

Polish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /psalm/

Noun

psalm m inan

  1. (music) psalm

Declension

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse salmr, psalmr, from Latin psalmus, from Ancient Greek ψαλμός ‎(psalmós, “the sound emenating from twitching or twanging perhaps with the hands or fingers, mostly of musical strings”).

Noun

psalm c

  1. a hymn, a church song
  2. a psalm of David, one of the chapters of the book of Psalms

Declension

Inflection of psalm 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative psalm psalmen psalmer psalmerna
Genitive psalms psalmens psalmers psalmernas

Usage notes

  • Denominations in Sweden outside of the Church of Sweden (e.g. baptists) have traditionally not used the word psalm, but rather visa, sång (song). Recent integrated hymnbooks are titled Psalmer och visor (1976) and Psalmer och Sånger (1987) to indicated that they cover both the Church of Sweden and other denominations.

Etymology

From Middle English salm or psalme, from Old English psealm, later reinforced from Old French psalme (modern French psaume), both from Latin psalmus, from Ancient Greek ψαλμός ‎(psalmós, “the sound emanating from twitching or twanging perhaps with the hands or fingers, mostly of musical strings”) (from ψάλλω ‎(psállō, “to make a sound by striking, touching, plucking, rubbing, twanging, or vibrating”)), but later in New Testament times the meaning of ψαλμός ‎(psalmós) evolved from its Classical meaning of "a tune played to the harp" to a more general tune that could be played with any instrument; even a song sung with or without musical accompaniment. By the Byzantine Period, it lost all of its instrumental nuances.

Pronunciation

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