hymnal

[him-nl]

noun

Also called hymn·book [him-boo k] /ˈhɪmˌbʊk/. a book of hymns for use in a religious service.

adjective

of or relating to hymns.

Origin of hymnal

1535–45; (in def 1) < Medieval Latin hymnāle, noun use of neuter of hymnālis (adj.); (in def 2) < Medieval Latin hymnālis; see hymn, -al¹, -al²

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for hymnal

Contemporary Examples of hymnal

Surreally, a choir of high school students at the gate adjoining ours begins singing a hymnal.
Hallucinating Away a Heroin Addiction
Abby Haglage
May 4, 2014
For his part, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is singing from Reid's hymnal.
Prism and the NSA: Something Congress Can Agree On
Lloyd Green
June 16, 2013

Historical Examples of hymnal

As originally composed, the collection could not be used as a hymnal.
Hymns and Hymnwriters of Denmark
Jens Christian Aaberg
Mrs. Eddy has contributed the words of three of the hymns in the Hymnal.
Christian Science
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
Behind her came the First Assistant with the prayer-book and hymnal.
Love Stories
Mary Roberts Rinehart
She read the introduction, title-page, and acknowledgment of copyrights, in the hymnal.
Main Street
Sinclair Lewis
A hymnal verse of the theme enters in the wood answered by impetuous strings on a coursing phrase.
Symphonies and Their Meaning; Third Series, Modern Symphonies
Philip H. Goepp

British Dictionary definitions for hymnal

hymnal

noun

a book of hymns

adjective

of, relating to, or characteristic of hymns

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

Word Origin and History for hymnal

c.1500, imnale, himnale, from Medieval Latin hymnale, from ymnus, from Latin hymnus (see hymn). As an adjective, attested from 1640s. Hymnal measure, a quatrain, usually iambic, alternately rhymed, is so called for being the preferred verse form for English hymns (e.g. "Amazing Grace"), but it has been popular in English secular poetry as well, "though it almost always suggests the hymn, directly or ironically" [Miller Williams, "Patterns of Poetry," Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1986].