missal

[mis-uh l]

noun

(sometimes initial capital letter) Roman Catholic Church. the book containing the prayers and rites used by the priest in celebrating Mass over the course of the entire year.

any book of prayers or devotions.

Nearby words

Origin of missal

1300–50; Middle English < Medieval Latin missāle, noun use of neuter of missālis, equivalent to miss(a) Mass + -ālis -al¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for missal

Directly behind the picture came a priest, his hands clasped over a missal which he held firmly against his well-fed stomach.
Vistas in Sicily|Arthur Stanley Riggs
Everywhere in the missal where an asterisk occurs they pause, and say in a low voice, "Jesus-Marie-Joseph."
Les Misrables|Victor Hugo
Father Bright returned to the sacristy, opened the missal, and changed the placement of the ribbons.
The Eyes Have It|Gordon Randall Garrett
Gerande looked at her father, and a flood of tears moistened her missal.
A Winter Amid the Ice|Jules Verne

I received his missal and his bag of purple silk as he gathered his cassock about him and came down.
A Journal of Impressions in Belgium|May Sinclair

British Dictionary definitions for missal

missal

noun

RC Church a book containing the prayers, rites, etc, of the Masses for a complete year

Word Origin for missal

C14: from Church Latin missale (n), from missālis concerning the Mass

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 missal

missal

c.1300, from Old French messel "book of the Mass" (12c.) an ddirectly from Medieval Latin missale, neuter of adjective missalis "pertaining to the Mass," from Late Latin missa "Mass" (see mass (2)).