SERMON • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Sermon

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/sˈərmən/ Listen

noun

Sermon n.

A discourse or address; a talk; a writing; as, the sermons of Chaucer. (Obs.)

Specifically, a discourse delivered in public, usually by a clergyman, for the purpose of religious instruction and grounded on some text or passage of Scripture. "This our life exempt from public haunts Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones and good in everything." "His preaching much, but more his practice, wrought, A living sermon of the truths he taught."

Hence, a serious address; a lecture on one's conduct or duty; an exhortation or reproof; a homily; often in a depreciatory sense.

verb

Sermon v. t.

To discourse to or of, as in a sermon. (Obs.)

To tutor; to lecture. (Poetic)

Sermon v. i. To speak; to discourse; to compose or deliver a sermon. (Obs.) "What needeth it to sermon of it more?"

See images of 'Sermon'

Etymology of 'Sermon'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Sermon" Quotes from Famous Books

... club affords an instant clue to the state of mind of many of its members. They have this in common with the plagiarising pupil, clergyman, or statesman—they are called upon to do something in which they have only a secondary interest. The minister who reads a sermon on the text "Thou Shalt Not Steal," and considers that the fact that he has paid five dollars for it will absolve him from the charge of inconsistency, does not—cannot—feel any desire to impress his congregation with a desire for right living—he wants only to ...

— A Librarian's Open Shelf • Arthur E. Bostwick

... complaints, and warned the Briton, kindly and in a private capacity, of the danger of his situation, a danger so much the greater in that he and his people would meet with the less consideration, seeing that they kept up the religion of their pagan forefathers. Morvan gave attentive ear to this sermon, with his eyes fixed on the ground, and his foot tapping it from time to time. Ditcar thought he had succeeded; but an incident supervened. It was the hour when Morvan's wife was accustomed to come and look for him ere they retired to the nuptial couch. She appeared, eager ...

— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 5 • Various

... for reference purposes when chained in the church. Some other shackled books were homiletical in character. Should we be accused of excess of imagination if we conjured up a picture of a little cluster of people standing by a clerk who reads to them a sermon or a passage of Holy Writ? The collection of tales, each with a moral, known as the Gesta Romanorum, would make especially attractive reading. Some books often found in churches and frequently mentioned in this book, as the Summa Praedicantium ...

— Old English Libraries, The Making, Collection, and Use of Books • Ernest A. Savage

... sermon one Sunday morning of summer the scene took place. They had asked what he had to say, and silence had followed. Not far from the church doors the bright Elkhorn (now nearly dry) swept past in its stately shimmering flood. The rush of the water over the stopped mill-wheel, ...

— The Reign of Law - A Tale of the Kentucky Hemp Fields • James Lane Allen

... York she heard the venerable founder of Methodism preach in Peaseholm Green Chapel; and though at that early age incompetent to retain any recollection of the sermon, his saintly appearance made on her imagination a vivid impression, which was perpetuated through life, and often mentioned in the family circle with the liveliest feelings of pleasure. On this occasion, the last on which he preached in York, Mr. Wesley appears ...

— Religion in Earnest - A Memorial of Mrs. Mary Lyth, of York • John Lyth

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