PSALM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Psalm mean? 

• PSALM (noun)
  The noun PSALM has 2 senses:

1. one of the 150 lyrical poems and prayers that comprise the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament; said to have been written by David

2. any sacred song used to praise the deity

  Familiarity information: PSALM used as a noun is rare.

• PSALM (verb)
  The verb PSALM has 1 sense:

1. sing or celebrate in psalms

  Familiarity information: PSALM used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PSALM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

One of the 150 lyrical poems and prayers that comprise the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament; said to have been written by David

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Instance hypernyms:

religious text; religious writing; sacred text; sacred writing (writing that is venerated for the worship of a deity)

Holonyms ("Psalm" is a part of...):

Old Testament (the collection of books comprising the sacred scripture of the Hebrews and recording their history as the chosen people; the first half of the Christian Bible)

Derivation:

psalmist (a composer of sacred songs)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any sacred song used to praise the deity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("psalm" is a kind of...):

religious text; religious writing; sacred text; sacred writing (writing that is venerated for the worship of a deity)

Derivation:

psalmist (a composer of sacred songs)

• PSALM (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Sing or celebrate in psalms

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Context example:

He psalms the works of God

Hypernyms (to "psalm" is one way to...):

sing (produce tones with the voice)

Domain category:

music (musical activity (singing or whistling etc.))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

psalmist (a composer of sacred songs)

 Context examples 

"'The Psalm of Life,' 'Excelsior,' an' . . . I guess that's all."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He had scarce got them on, and it was a sore labor, seeing that my inches will scarce match my girth—he had scarce got them on, I say, and I not yet at the end of the second psalm, when he bade me do honor to my new dress, and with that set off down the road as fast as feet would carry him.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I have a little boy, younger than you, who knows six Psalms by heart: and when you ask him which he would rather have, a gingerbread-nut to eat or a verse of a Psalm to learn, he says: 'Oh! the verse of a Psalm! angels sing Psalms;' says he, 'I wish to be a little angel here below;' he then gets two nuts in recompense for his infant piety.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

But much as she liked to write for children, Jo could not consent to depict all her naughty boys as being eaten by bears or tossed by mad bulls because they did not go to a particular Sabbath school, nor all the good infants who did go as rewarded by every kind of bliss, from gilded gingerbread to escorts of angels when they departed this life with psalms or sermons on their lisping tongues.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

'Then the worse for thy soul!' said he; and with that he broke into a long tale how that on account of the virtues of the Abbot Berghersh it had been decreed by the Pope that whoever should wear the habit of a monk of Beaulieu for as long as he might say the seven psalms of David should be assured of the kingdom of Heaven.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And besides, it did not seem reasonable that he should be right—he who had stood, so short a time before, in that same living room, blushing and awkward, acknowledging his introduction, looking fearfully about him at the bric-a- brac his swinging shoulders threatened to break, asking how long since Swinburne died, and boastfully announcing that he had read Excelsior and the Psalm of Life.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)