Word of the Day

: November 12, 2014

hallowed

adjective HAL-ohd

What It Means

1 : holy, consecrated

2 : sacred, revered

hallowed in Context

"He who enters a university walks on hallowed ground," declared Harvard President James Bryant Conant on the celebration of that institution's 300th anniversary.

"People pass Richards Memorial Park every day, many without knowing the amount of rich Talbot County history buried in its hallowed grounds." - Josh Bollinger, Sunday Star (Easton, Maryland), October 12, 2014

Did You Know?

The adjective hallowed probably doesn't give you the shivers-or does it? Hallowed is the past participle of the verb hallow, a term that descends from the Middle English halowen. That word can in turn be traced back to hālig, Old English for "holy." During the Middle Ages, All Hallows' Day was the name for what Christians now call All Saints' Day, and the evening that preceded All Hallows' Day was All Hallow Even-or, as we know it today, Halloween.