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mystery |
4 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Mystery \Mys"ter*y\, n.; pl {Mysteries}. [OE. mistere, OF mestier, F. m['e]tier, L. ministerium See {Ministry}.] 1. A trade a handicraft; hence any business with which one is usually occupied. Fie upon him he will discredit our mystery. --Shak. And that which is the noblest mystery Brings to reproach and common infamy. --Spenser. 2. A dramatic representation of a Scriptural subject, often some event in the life of Christ; a dramatic composition of this character; as the Chester Mysteries, consisting of dramas acted by various craft associations in that city in the early part of the 14th century. ``Mystery plays,'' so called because acted by craftsmen. --Skeat. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Mystery \Mys"ter*y\, n.; pl {Mysteries}. [L. mysterium Gr ?, fr ? one initiated in mysteries; cf ? to initiate into the mysteries, fr ? to shut the eyes. Cf {Mute}, a.] 1. A profound secret; something wholly unknown, or something kept cautiously concealed, and therefore exciting curiosity or wonder; something which has not been or can not be explained; hence specifically, that which is beyond human comprehension. We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. --1 Cor. ii 7. If God should please to reveal unto us this great mystery of the Trinity, or some other mysteries in our holy religion, we should not be able to understand them unless he would bestow on us some new faculties of the mind. --Swift. 2. A kind of secret religious celebration, to which none were admitted except those who had been initiated by certain preparatory ceremonies; -- usually plural; as the Eleusinian mysteries. 3. pl The consecrated elements in the eucharist. 4. Anything artfully made difficult; an enigma. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: mystery n 1: something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained; "how it got out is a mystery"; "it remains one of nature's secrets" [syn: {enigma}, {secret}, {closed book}] 2: a story about a crime (usually murder) presented as a novel or play or movie [syn: {mystery story}, {whodunit}] From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]: Mystery the calling of the Gentiles into the Christian Church, so designated (Eph. 1:9, 10; 3:8-11; Col. 1:25-27); a truth undiscoverable except by revelation, long hid, now made manifest. The resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. 15:51), and other doctrines which need to be explained but which cannot be fully understood by finite intelligence (Matt. 13:11; Rom. 11:25; 1 Cor. 13:2); the union between Christ and his people symbolized by the marriage union (Eph. 5:31, 32; comp. 6:19); the seven stars and the seven candlesticks (Rev. 1:20); and the woman clothed in scarlet (17:7), are also in this sense mysteries. The anti-Christian power working in his day is called by the apostle (2 Thess. 2:7) the "mystery of iniquity."
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