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  • Holy Rood
    Holy Rood
    noun
    the cross on which Jesus died.
  • holy rood
    holy rood
    noun
    a cross or crucifix, esp one placed upon the rood screen in a church

Holy Rood

American  

noun

  1. the cross on which Jesus died.

  2. (lowercase) a crucifix, especially one above a rood screen.


holy rood British  

noun

  1. a cross or crucifix, esp one placed upon the rood screen in a church

  2. (often capital) the cross on which Christ was crucified

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of Holy Rood

before 1150; Middle English; Old English

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.

See Examples For:

Brett Talley poses for a portrait at Holy Rood Cemetery in 2014.

From Washington Post Jan. 11, 2018

Brett Talley poses for a portrait in 2014 at Holy Rood Cemetery in Washington.

From Washington Post Dec. 14, 2017

It contains twenty-two sermons in Anglo-Saxon, and six poems, among which is our beautiful "Dream of the Holy Rood."

From Our Catholic Heritage in English Literature of Pre-Conquest Days by Hickey, Emily

For the legend of the Holy Rood see Old English History, p.

From Sketches of Travel in Normandy and Maine by Hutton, William Holden

The "Codex Vercellensis," preserved at Vercelli in Lombardy, containing: Andreas, The Departed Soul's Address to the Body, Dream of the Holy Rood, Elene, &c., written in the eleventh century.

From A Literary History of the English People From the Origins to the Renaissance by Jusserand, Jean Jules

I came rather warmly and lovingly; but these light ringlets, by the holy rood, shall not shade this shoulder much longer.

From Imaginary Conversations and Poems A Selection by Landor, Walter Savage

By the rood was a common oath; so by the holy rood, as in Shakespeare, Rich.

From The Lady of the Lake by Scott, Walter, Sir

Among the rest, Lady Trowst, wife of Sytsyllt, governor of Harden Castle, went also to pray, when, during this exercise, the holy rood fell upon her head and killed her.

From The Grand Old Man by Cook, Richard B. (Richard Briscoe)

And at last he took her hand and swore by the holy rood that he would be true to her.

From Olaf the Glorious A Story of the Viking Age by Leighton, Robert

John the Evangelist wrote that, at Christ's passion, he himself and Mary stood with sorrowing mind opposite the holy rood, on which Jesus was fastened.

From The Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church Containing the Sermones Catholici, or Homilies of ?lfric, in the Original Anglo-Saxon, with an English Version. Volume I. by Aelfric, Abbot of Eynsham

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