procession

English

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procession

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English processioun, borrowed from Old French pourciession, from Latin prōcessiō (“a marching forward, an advance, in Late Latin a religious procession”), from prōcēdere, past participle prōcessus (“to move forward, advance, proceed”); see proceed.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹəˈsɛʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pro‧ces‧sion

Noun

procession (plural processions)

1. The act of progressing or proceeding.
   • 1659, John Pearson, Exposition of the Creed:

     From whence it came to pass in the primitive times , that the Latin fathers taught expressly the procession of the Spirit from the Father and the Son

   • 1835, Richard Chenevix Trench, “The Same Continued”, in The Story of Justin Martyr, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, page 126:

     Yet proof is here of men's unquenched desire / That the procession of their life might be / More equable majestic pure and free; […]

2. A group of people or things moving along in an orderly, stately, or solemn manner; a train of persons advancing in order; a retinue.

   a procession of mourners

   the Lord Mayor's procession

   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies.  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 126, column 2:

     Here comes the towneſ-men, on Proceſſion, / To preſent your Highneſſe with the man.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter I, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 7:

     By reason of these things, then, the whaling voyage was welcome; the great flood-gates of the wonder-world swung open, and in the wild conceits that swayed me to my purpose, two and two there floated into my inmost soul, endless processions of the whale, and, mid most of them all, one grand hooded phantom, like a snow hill in the air.

   • 1914, Westways, volume 6, page 7:

     The final fifty miles of the race was a procession with little change in the relative positions of the cars […]

3. A number of things happening in sequence (in space or in time).
4. (ecclesiastical, obsolete, in the plural) Litanies said in procession and not kneeling.
   • 1894, Orby Shipley, Carmina Mariana:

     In many a form I see thee oft
     In myriad manners are thy praises told
     In old processions carved on Grecian urns

5. (cricket) The rapid dismissal of a series of batsmen.
   • 2012, K. L. Mohana Varma, Cricket-Indo: The Story of an Indo-Pak One-Day Cricket Turf War, page 205:

     Before he closed and opened his eyes, the bails on the wicket behind Johnny Masih were shattered. That was the beginning of a procession. The second ball clean bowled the batsman. The third ball was a catch for the wicketkeeper.

   • 2015, Steve Dolman, Edwin Smith: A Life in Derbyshire Cricket, page 36:

     Scotland moved nicely to 45 without loss before I took the first wicket and then it became a procession.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• -cade
• cavalcade
• cortege
• flypast
• march-past
• motorcade
• parade

Verb

procession (third-person singular simple present processions, present participle processioning, simple past and past participle processioned)

1. (intransitive) To take part in a procession.
2. (transitive, dated) To honour with a procession.
3. (transitive, law, US, North Carolina, Tennessee) To ascertain, mark, and establish the boundary lines of (lands).
   • 1856, Alexander Mansfield Burrill, A Law Dictionary and Glossary, PROCESSIONING:

     To procession the lands of such persons as desire it.

Synonyms

• process

Further reading

• “procession”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “procession”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁɔ.sɛ.sjɔ̃/, /pʁɔ.se.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

procession f (plural processions)

1. procession

   Synonym: cortège

Further reading

• “procession”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.