Nearby Words

shrift

[shrift] Origin

shrift

[shrift]
noun Archaic.
1.
the imposition of penance by a priest on a penitent after confession.
2.
absolution or remission of sins granted after confession and penance.
3.
confession to a priest.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English; Old English scrift penance; cognate with German, Dutch schrift writing; see shrive, -th1

shift, shrift.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To shrift

:10

:09

:08

:07

:06

:05

:04

:03

:02

:01

Shrift is always a great word to know.
So is zedonk. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
Collins
World English Dictionary
shrift (ʃrɪft)
 
n
archaic See also short shrift the act or an instance of shriving or being shriven
 
[Old English scrift, from Latin scriptumscript]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

shrift
O.E. scrift "confession to priest, followed by penance and absolution," verbal noun from scrifan "to impose penance" (see shrive). Short shrift was originally the brief time for a condemned criminal to confess before execution (1594); fig. extension to "little or no consideration"
EXPAND
is first attested 1814.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

shrift

see short shrift.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature