Dedicate

DED'ICATE,DEDICA'TION, a religious ceremony by which any person, place, or thing is set apart for the service of God or to some sacred use. Num 7; 2 Sam 8:11; 1 Kgs 8. Cities, walls, gates, and private houses were thus dedicated. Neh 12:27. The practice of consecration was very common among the Jews, and was suited to the peculiar dispensation under which they lived. Dedication, Feast of the, mentioned only once in the canonical Scriptures, John 10:22, was instituted to commemorate the purging of the temple and the rebuilding of the altar after Judas Maccabaeus had driven out the Syrians, 1 Macc 4:52-59, b.c. 164. Like the other Jewish feasts, it lasted eight days, but, unlike them, attendance at Jerusalem was not obligatory. In general, it was kept like the feast of tabernacles. The Hallel was sung every day. It was a time of rejoicing. It began upon the 25th day of Chisleu (December), the anniversary of the pollution of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, b.c. 167.

Part of speech: verb (v.)

1. To set apart and consecrate, as to a divinity, or for sacred uses; to devote formally and solemnly; as, to dedicate vessels, treasures, a temple, or a church, to a religious use. Vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, . . . which also king David did dedicate unto the Lord. 2 Sam. viii. 10, 11. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. . . . But in a larger sense we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. A. Lincoln.

2. To devote, set apart, or give up, as one's self, to a duty or service. The profession of a soldier, to which he had dedicated himself. Clarendon.

3. To inscribe or address, as to a patron. He complied ten elegant books, and dedicated them to the Lord Burghley. Peacham.

Synonyms: See Addict.

Part of speech: participle (p.)

Dedicated; set apart; devoted; consecrated. "Dedicate to nothing temporal." Shak.

Synonyms: Devoted; consecrated; addicted.