thanksgiving

English

Etymology

thanks +‎ giving

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌθæŋksˈɡɪv.ɪŋ/, /ˈθæŋksˌɡɪv.ɪŋ/

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Noun

thanksgiving (countable and uncountable, plural thanksgivings)

1. An expression of gratitude.
   • 1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page 3:

     Now the happy king laid the forehead of thankſgiving upon the duſt of gratitude; he opened the doors of his wealth to the four winds, and enriched the world, at once, with his munificence.

   • 1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IV, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I, II, or III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:

     The waters grew suddenly lighter, and my spirits rose accordingly. I shouted down to those below that I saw daylight ahead, and a great shout of thanksgiving reverberated through the ship. A moment later we emerged into sunlit water, and immediately I raised the periscope and looked about me upon the strangest landscape I had ever seen.

2. A short prayer said at meals; grace, a benediction.
3. A public celebration in acknowledgement of divine favour.
   • 1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 20, in The Dust of Conflict‎:

     Hester Earle and Violet Wayne were moving about the aisle with bundles of wheat-ears and streamers of ivy, for the harvest thanksgiving was shortly to be celebrated, while the vicar stood waiting for their directions on the chancel steps with a great handful of crimson gladioli.

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