prayer
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
prayer /prɛː/
▶noun
- 1 a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or another deity.
■ (prayers) a religious service at which people gather to pray together.
- 2 an earnest hope or wish.
– phrases
not have a prayer informal have no chance.
not have a prayer informal have no chance.
– origin ME: from OFr. preiere, based on L. precarius ‘obtained by entreaty’, from prex, prec- ‘prayer’.
'prayer' also found in these Oxford entries:
act of contrition
- amen
- Amidah
- Ave Maria
- azan
- bead
- blessing
- canonical hours
- cantor
- collect
- contemplation
- contemplative
- deprecate
- Ember day
- faith healing
- faldstool
- Fatiha
- ghusl
- Gloria
- grace
- Habdalah
- Hail Mary
- hear
- hornbook
- intercession
- invocation
- invoke
- Kaddish
- kiblah
- kiddush
- Kol Nidre
- lauds
- litany
- lord
- mantis
- maranta
- matins
- memento
- mihrab
- minaret
- muezzin
- offer
- oration
- orison
- Our Father
- paternoster
- phylactery
- pray
- prayerful
