DictionaryAI

Easter

EE-stur/ˈistəɹ/UKEE-stuh/ˈiːstə/

PluralEasters, easters

VerbEasters, Eastering, Eastered

9 meanings of Easter

Practice

  1. 1
    nouncountable or uncountable
    A Christian holiday that celebrates Jesus coming back to life, held on a Sunday in spring.

    We dyed eggs and went to church on Easter.

    Easter falls on a different Sunday each year.

    Note
  2. 2
    noununcountable
    The church season that lasts from Easter Sunday until Pentecost, about seven weeks.

    The whole of Easter is a happy time in the church year.

    During Easter, the church keeps its joyful songs going for weeks.

    SimilarEastertide

    Note
  3. 3
    verbintransitive
    To take part in Easter celebrations.

    We Easter with the whole family, sharing a big meal and games.

    They Easter joyfully every spring.

    Note
  4. 4
    verbintransitive
    To spend the Easter season somewhere.

    They Easter in the mountains most years.

    We Easter at the lake house with our cousins.

  5. 5
    noununcountable
    A spring festival held to honor the old goddess Eostre, kept around the time when day and night are equal.

    Some pagans celebrate Easter as a feast for the spring goddess.

    At Easter they light fires to welcome the longer days.

    Note
  6. 6
    nounIrelandUKuncountableabbreviationellipsis
    Short for Easter term. It names the spring term at certain UK universities and law courts.

    She sat her exams at the end of Easter.

    Lectures start again in Easter, after the spring break.

    Note

Less common meanings

  1. 7
    noundatedfigurativelyusually singular
    The act of taking Holy Communion during the Easter season.

    She made her Easter at the village church every spring.

    Each year he went to confession and made his Easter.

    Note
  2. 8
    nounobsoleteuncountable
    The Jewish spring festival of Passover.
    After two dayes folowed eſter⸝ and the dayes of ſwete breed. And the hye preſtꝭ [prestis] and ſcrybꝭ [scrybis] ſought meanes⸝ howe they myght take hym [Jesus] by crafte and putt hym to deeth.
    1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt (Tyndale Bible)Here, ester means the Jewish feast of Passover.
    Note
  3. 9
    proper noun
    A family name carried by some English-speaking people.

Practice

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Origin

The word comes from Old English ēastre. It may come from Ēastre, a suggested Anglo-Saxon goddess of the dawn, whose festival was thought to be held around spring.