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thanksgiving - 4 dictionary results

thanks⋅giv⋅ing

[thangks-giv-ing]
–noun
1. the act of giving thanks; grateful acknowledgment of benefits or favors, esp. to God.
2. an expression of thanks, esp. to God.
3. a public celebration in acknowledgment of divine favor or kindness.
4. a day set apart for giving thanks to God.
5. (initial capital letter) Thanksgiving Day.

Origin:
1525–35; thank + -s 3 + giving
thanks·giv·ing   (thāngks-gĭv'ĭng)   
n.  
  1. An act of giving thanks; an expression of gratitude, especially to God: a hymn of thanksgiving.
  2. Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving

Thanks"giv`ing\, n. 1. The act of rending thanks, or expressing gratitude for favors or mercies.

Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving. --1 Tim. iv. 4.

In the thanksgiving before meat. --Shak.

And taught by thee the Church prolongs Her hymns of high thanksgiving still. --Keble.

2. A public acknowledgment or celebration of divine goodness; also, a day set apart for religious services, specially to acknowledge the goodness of God, either in any remarkable deliverance from calamities or danger, or in the ordinary dispensation of his bounties.

Note: In the United States it is now customary for the President by proclamation to appoint annually a day (usually the last Thursday in November) of thanksgiving and praise to God for the mercies of the past year. This is an extension of the custom long prevailing in several States in which an annual Thanksgiving day has been appointed by proclamation of the governor.
Language Translation for : thanksgiving
Spanish: acción de gracias,
German: die Danksagung,
Japanese: 感謝の祈り

thanksgiving 
1533, "the giving of thanks," from thanks (n.) + giving. The noun thanks is attested from 1340, from the verb thank. In the specific sense of "public celebration acknowledging divine favors" thanksgiving dates from 1632 (the first one in America was held October 1621 by Plymouth Colony Pilgrims in appreciation of assistance from members of the Massasoit tribe and celebration of the first harvest); though Thanksgiving Day itself is not attested until 1674.
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