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Webster 1913 Edition

Thanksgiving

Thanks′givˊing

,
Noun.
1.
The act of rending thanks, or expressing gratitude for favors or mercies.
Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with
thanksgiving
.
1 Tim. iv. 4.
In the
thanksgiving
before meat.
Shakespeare
And taught by thee the Church prolongs
Her hymns of high
thanksgiving
still.
Keble.
2.
A public acknowledgment or celebration of divine goodness; also, a day set apart for religious services, specially to acknowledge the goodness of God, either in any remarkable deliverance from calamities or danger, or in the ordinary dispensation of his bounties.
☞ In the United States it is now customary for the President by proclamation to appoint annually a day (usually the last Thursday in November) of thanksgiving and praise to God for the mercies of the past year. This is an extension of the custom long prevailing in several States in which an annual Thanksgiving day has been appointed by proclamation of the governor.

Webster 1828 Edition

Thanksgiving

THANKSGIV'ING

,
ppr.
Rendering thanks for good received.

THANKSGIV'ING

,
Noun.
The act of rendering thanks or expressing gratitude for favors or mercies.
Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if received with thanksgiving. 1 Tim.4.
1.
A public celebration of divine goodness; also, a day set apart for religious services, specially to acknowledge the goodness of God, either in any remarkable deliverance from calamities or danger, or in the ordinary dispensation of his bounties. The practice of appointing an annual thanksgiving originated in New England.

Definition 2024

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

See also: thanksgiving

English

Proper noun

Thanksgiving

  1. (Canada, US) Thanksgiving Day, celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada, and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States.
  2. (Canada, US) The long weekend which includes Thanksgiving Day: Thanksgiving weekend.
  3. An analogous celebration in other cultures, especially a harvest festival.
    • 1999, Sol Scharfstein, Understanding Jewish Holidays and Customs: Historical and Contemporary, KTAV Publishing House, Inc. (ISBN 9780881256260), page 39
      Thus Sukkot became the Jewish Thanksgiving.
    • 2006, James R. Dow, German Folklore: A Handbook, Greenwood Publishing Group
      The German Thanksgiving Day typically is on the first day of October when samples of the new harvest are displayed in churches.
    • 2008, Negotiating Ethnic Identities: A Study of Korean Americans and Adoptees in Minnesota, ProQuest (ISBN 9780549940715), page 82
      To apply this technique in the context of the Minnesota Korean community, I utilized Korean holiday events such as Korean Thanksgiving Day (called Chusok in Korean) and the Korean New Year Day (called solnal in Korean).

Derived terms

Translations

thanksgiving

thanksgiving

See also: Thanksgiving

English

Noun

thanksgiving ‎(plural thanksgivings)

  1. an expression of gratitude.
    • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter IV
      The waters grew suddenly lighter, and my spirits rose accordingly. I shouted down to those below that I saw daylight ahead, and a great shout of thanksgiving reverberated through the ship. A moment later we emerged into sunlit water, and immediately I raised the periscope and looked about me upon the strangest landscape I had ever seen.
  2. a short prayer said at meals; grace, a benediction.
  3. A public celebration in acknowledgement of divine favour.
    • 1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 20, in The Dust of Conflict:
      Hester Earle and Violet Wayne were moving about the aisle with bundles of wheat-ears and streamers of ivy, for the harvest thanksgiving was shortly to be celebrated, while the vicar stood waiting for their directions on the chancel steps with a great handful of crimson gladioli.

Translations

Etymology

thanks +‎ giving

Pronunciation

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