Word: Pentecost Part of Speech: name Etymology: From Middle English Pentecoste (“feast of the descent of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost; season of Pentecost, Whitsuntide; Jewish festival celebrating giving of the law to Moses”), from Old English Pentecosten, also influenced by Anglo-Norman pentecoste, Middle French pentecoste, and Old French pentecoste (“Christian feast of Pentecost; Jewish festival of Pentecost”) (modern French Pentecôte). Both the Old English and Old French words are derived from Ecclesiastical Latin Pentēcostē (“Christian feast of Pentecost; Jewish festival of Pentecost”), from Koine Greek πεντηκοστή (pentēkostḗ, “Christian feast of Pentecost; Jewish festival of Pentecost”), from Ancient Greek πεντηκοστή (pentēkostḗ, “fiftieth”), a noun use of the feminine form of πεντηκοστὸς (pentēkostòs, “fiftieth”, adjective), short for πεντηκοστὸς ἡμέρα (pentēkostòs hēméra, “fiftieth day”) (referring to the Jewish festival falling on the fiftieth day after the second day of the Passover), used in the Bible to translate Hebrew שָׁבוּעוֹת (shāvū'ót, “weeks”). Πεντηκοστὸς (Pentēkostòs) is derived from Proto-Hellenic *penkʷēkontstós, from *pénkʷe (“five”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe (“five; hand”)) + *-kontstós (suffix forming ordinal numbers from twentieth to ninetieth) (whence Boeotian Greek ‑καστός (‑kastós); from Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥ (“ten”)). The surname is from Old French and Middle English Pentecost, a personal name perhaps given to one born on Pentecost; also an altered form of Pankhurst. Compare Pancoast. Compare also Pinkster, a cognate borrowed from Dutch sometimes used regionally or archaically. Pronunciation: /ˈpɛntɪkɒst/, /ˈpɛntəˌkɔst/, /-ˌkɑst/, [-ɾə-] 1. Synonym of Shavuot (“a Jewish harvest festival which falls on the sixth day of Sivan in the spring, fifty days after the second day of the Passover when the omer (“sheaf of barley”) is offered; a ceremony held on that day to commemorate the giving of the Torah (“first five books of the Hebrew scriptures”) to Moses and the Israelites on Mount Sinai”). Labels: Judaism Example: Novv vvhen I vvas come home againe, & my vvife Anna vvas reſtored vnto me vvith my ſonne Tobias, in the feaſt of Pentecoſte, vvhich is the holy feaſt of the ſeuen vvekes, there vvas a great dinner prepared me, in the vvhich I ſate dovvne to eat. Example: And when the day of Pentecoſt was fully come, they [the Apostles] were all with one accord in one place. And ſuddenly there came a ſound from heauen as of a ruſhing mighty wind, and it filled all the houſe where they were ſitting. And there appeared vnto them clouen tongues, like as of fire, and it ſate vpon each of them. And they were all filled with the holy Ghoſt, and began to ſpeake with other tongues, as the ſpirit gaue them vtterance. 2. A festival which falls on the seventh Sunday after Easter which commemorates the event described in Acts 2 of the Bible when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles during the Jewish festival of Pentecost (proper noun sense 1), conferring on them the miraculous ability to explain the gospel in languages they did not know; also, the Sunday on which the festival is celebrated. Labels: broadly Example: 1. Capu[let]. […] [G]ood Cozin Capulet, / For you and I are paſt our dauncing dayes: / Hovv long iſt novv ſince laſt your ſelfe and I / VVere in a maske? / 2. Capu. Be'r [By our] lady thirtie yeares. / 1. Capu. VVhat man tis not ſo much, tis not ſo much, / Tis ſince the nuptiall of Lucientio: / Come Pentycoſt as quickly as it vvill, / Some fiue and tvventy yeares, and then vve maske. Example: The ſacrament of baptiſm vvas regularly adminiſtered by the biſhop himſelf, vvith his aſſiſtant clergy, in the cathedral church of the dioceſe, during the fifty days betvveen the ſolemn feſtivals of Eaſter and Pentecoſt; and this holy term admitted a numerous band of infants and adult perſons into the boſom of the church. 3. In full day of Pentecost or Pentecost day: the day on which the event commemorated by the festival (proper noun sense 2) occurred; also, the event itself. Labels: broadly Example: [T]heſe three at ſeveral times did repreſent the perſon of God: Moſes, and his succeſſors the High Prieſts, and Kings of Judah, in the Old Teſtament: Chriſt himſelf, in the time he lived on earth: and the Apoſtles, and their succeſſors, from the day of Pentecoſt (vvhen the Holy Ghoſt deſcended on them) to this day. Example: But pray in vvhat language did Remi preach to theſe Bructeri and Sicambri? He ſpoke either Latin or VVelſh; and the Sicambri ſpoke the antient Teutonic. Remi, in all appearance, renevved the miracle of the Pentecoſt: Et unuſquiſquis intendebat linguam ſuam, And each underſtood his ovvn language. 4. Synonym of Whitsuntide (“the week beginning on Whitsunday; also, the weekend which includes Whitsunday”). Labels: broadly 5. The gift of the Holy Spirit to a Christian; also, the occurrence of this. Labels: broadly Example: Ever the fiery Pentecost / Girds with one flame the countless host, / Trances the heart through chanting choirs, / And through the priest the mind inspires. Example: Pentacostals claim to have a universal message. […] They think a new Pentecost is afoot, in which the Holy Spirit brings millions the good news of salvation in the hereafter and real blessings in the here and now. 6. A surname.