matins

British

/ ˈmætɪnz /

noun

1. RC Church the first of the seven canonical hours of prayer, originally observed at night but now often recited with lauds at daybreak
2. the service of morning prayer in the Church of England
literary a morning song, esp of birds

"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 matins

C13: from Old French, ultimately from Latin mātūtīnus of the morning, from Mātūta goddess of dawn

Vocabulary lists containing matins

Selection Vocabulary 3, Unit 1

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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.

Those moments once felt sacred, like matins, the quiet prelude to a day of work.

From Slate • Apr. 12, 2021

As I recall, there was a lot of tension between those who wanted a quiet life of matins and evensong running along like liturgical clockwork, and those who wanted to bring in “new life.”

From The New Yorker • Nov. 30, 2014

I went to Marlborough College in Wiltshire, and they had a beautiful chapel where we had matins most days.

From The Guardian • Jun. 9, 2014

Great iron bells that for centuries sounded matins and vespers had been carried away, to be melted down for the Nazi war machine.

From Time Magazine Archive

"He did in Gib.; and Addis; and at matins over the precentor."

From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023