First recorded in 1815–25
First recorded in 1815–25; from Latin ex vōtō literally, “out of a vow”; see ex- 1 ( def. ), vow
When religious offerings are left because of a vow that somebody made in prayer, those offerings are called ex-voto. Usually, ex-voto offerings are left on display. An offering that is left on display is called a votive offering. An ex-voto is a specific kind of votive offering, and is common in the Catholic faith. Essentially, an ex-voto offering is made because you vowed to a saint or divinity that you would make it, but they can also be made just out of gratitude to that saint or divinity.
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Two additional clumps support each canvas as it leans against the wall like some icon or ex voto, reminding us that painting is a universal, not Western, art form.
From New York Times • Oct. 30, 2014
You placed your arms ex voto in the basilica of St. Denis.
From The Executioner's Knife Or Joan of Arc by Sue, Eug?ne
So he and took up Abdullah and the doorkeeper forewent him, till he came to a hermitage, where he saw folk entering with many an ex voto offering and other folk coming forth, rejoicing.
From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 09 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
In the central space, upon a pillar or pedestal, hung, ex voto, with the richest personal ornaments, stood the image of Aesculapius himself, surrounded by choice flowering plants.
From Marius the Epicurean — Volume 1 by Pater, Walter
But the magnificence of the golden lamps, the silver candlesticks, the banners, the tassels, the saints and the "ex voto" paled before the reliquary in which Don Juan lay.
From International Short Stories: French by Cheneviere, A.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
