UNCTION • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Unction

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noun

Unction n.

1.

The act of anointing, smearing, or rubbing with an unguent, oil, or ointment, especially for medical purposes, or as a symbol of consecration; as, mercurial unction. "To be heir, and to be king By sacred unction, thy deserved right."

2.

That which is used for anointing; an unguent; an ointment; hence, anything soothing or lenitive. "The king himself the sacred unction made." "Lay not that flattering unction to your soul."

3.

Divine or sanctifying grace. (R.)

4.

That quality in language, address, or the like, which excites emotion; especially, strong devotion; religious fervor and tenderness; sometimes, a simulated, factitious, or unnatural fervor. "The delightful equivoque and unction of the passage in Farquhar." "The mention of thy glory Is unction to the breast."

Extreme unction (R. C. Ch. & Gr. Ch.), the sacrament of anointing in the last hours; the application of consecrated oil by a priest to all the senses, that is, to eyes, ears, nostrils, etc., of a person when in danger of death from illness, done for remission of sins. (James v. 14, 15.)

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Etymology of 'Unction'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Unction" Quotes from Famous Books

... connection with turtle; had his receipt for curry contained no cayenne; had he forgotten to send up tongues with asparagus, or to order a service of artichokes without napkins, he would have been thought forgetful; but when—with the unction of a gastronome, and the thoughtful skill of an artist—he marshals forth all the luxuries of the British breakfast-table, and forgets to mention its first necessity, he shows a sort of ignorance. We put it to his ...

— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 2, July, 1850. • Various

... lost none of his old quaintness and simplicity of phrase, none of his fervor. The people listened to his sermons with wondering interest, and were not slow to ascribe some of the credit of the new unction to Draxy. ...

— Saxe Holm's Stories • Helen Hunt Jackson

... could even now voyage amid the isles of the Pacific, and behold the glorious work wrought by the instrumentality of true Christian men of various branches of the one Church, and I believe that they would be compelled to acknowledge that an unction from on high is of more avail in saving souls alive than any mere official and external qualification, such as the Romish priesthood with its pretended apostolic succession claims. The means are best judged of by the result, and ...

— The Cruise of the Mary Rose - Here and There in the Pacific • William H. G. Kingston

... his head and laughed, not loud, but gayly and with unction. Robert reddened, but he could not take offense, as he saw that none ...

— The Shadow of the North - A Story of Old New York and a Lost Campaign • Joseph A. Altsheler

... of the same day, the priest Vignali administered the sacrament of extreme unction. Some days before, Napoleon had explained to him the manner in which he desired his body should be laid out in state, in an apartment lighted by torches, or what Catholics call une chambre ardente. "I am neither," ...

— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Supplementary Number, Issue 263, 1827 • Various

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