hallow
Americanverb (used with object)
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to make holy; sanctify; consecrate.
-
to honor as holy; consider sacred; venerate.
to hallow a battlefield.
verb
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to consecrate or set apart as being holy
-
to venerate as being holy
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hallow
First recorded before 900; Middle English hal(o)wen, Old English hālgian (cognate with German heiligen, Old Norse helga ), derivative of hālig “consecrated, sacred, holy”; see holy
Explanation
To hallow is to bless, consecrate, or render holy by means of religious rites, especially significant religious places or the relics of saints. As a noun, hallow means "saint." The word for our popular holiday Halloween is a shortened form of "All Hallows' Eve," or "All Saints' Eve," which precedes All Saints' Day. In the verb form, the synonyms bless and sanctify are more commonly used these days, but hallow still appears in such phrases as "hallowed ground" (ground that's been blessed) and the Christian "hallowed be Thy name" (a phrase from "The Lord's Prayer," where hallowed means "revered").
Vocabulary lists containing hallow
The Grim Reader: Wicked Words of Grave Importance for Halloween
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Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" (1863)
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Othello
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A generation, though, came to know her as Mia Bass, the owner of the Independence Inn in Stars Hallow, in a Season 2 episode of “Gilmore Girls.”
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 16, 2025
At first, Hallow didn't seem so bad, even though I blanched when it immediately gamified the spiritual experience by congratulating me for maintaining my "streak" of daily usage.
From Salon • Apr. 18, 2025
Sleepy Hallow was released on $200,000 bail in May 2023.
From Seattle Times • May 24, 2024
Hallow raised $40 million in 2021 and counts the tech billionaire Peter Thiel and Senator J.D.
From New York Times • Mar. 7, 2024
“The Elder Wand is the Hallow that is most easily traced, because of the way in which it passes from hand to hand.”
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
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.
