INITIATORY • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Initiatory

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adjective

Initiatory adj.

Suitable for an introduction or beginning; introductory; prefatory; as, an initiatory step.

Tending or serving to initiate; introducing by instruction, or by the use and application of symbols or ceremonies; elementary; rudimentary. "Some initiatory treatises in the law." "Two initiatory rites of the same general import can not exist together."

noun

Initiatory n. An introductory act or rite. (R.)

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Etymology of 'Initiatory'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Initiatory" Quotes from Famous Books

... I learned it, according to the Oriental custom under the most sacred obligations of secrecy. One must advance through the whole course, by initiatory degrees, before learning the final mysteries of the samurais. Now, we have a working hypothesis. The girls could never have accomplished this. One man and one alone must have killed the three, although doubtless with confederates. Yamashino assured me that there were only six men in this ...

— The Voice on the Wire • Eustace Hale Ball

... produced by his weakened and excited state, he fancied like all Indians, that he saw supernatural revelations. Again and again the form of an antelope appeared before him. The antelope is the graceful peace spirit of the Ogallalla; but seldom is it that such a gentle visitor presents itself during the initiatory fasts of their young men. The terrible grizzly bear, the divinity of war, usually appears to fire them with martial ardor and thirst for renown. At length the antelope spoke. He told the young dreamer that he was not to follow the ...

— The Oregon Trail • Francis Parkman, Jr.

... to the automaton system of steam any privileges over horse-boats—excepting for incidental initiatory encouragement to steam—we have a war of the many against the few. In the former era the double toll system was obliged to be suspended, and the no-toll system of this era is only ...

— History of Steam on the Erie Canal • Anonymous

... Wapshott soothingly. "You'll get accustomed. They began by being frogs," he explained, with the initiatory air of an elder brother, and waved a feeble hand. "Eggs— if you'll 'low me, sir, to conclude—egg-sisting in the 'magination only. ...

— The Mayor of Troy • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... The initiatory ceremonies over, the old hag approached her victim, when Mistress Nutter forced herself through the circle, and cast herself at ...

— The Lancashire Witches - A Romance of Pendle Forest • William Harrison Ainsworth

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