What does Easter mean?

Definitions for Easter
ˈi stəreast·er

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word Easter.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. Easternoun

    a Christian celebration of the Resurrection of Christ; celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox

  2. east wind, easter, easterlynoun

    a wind from the east

Wiktionary

  1. Easternoun

    A Christian feast commemorating the resurrection of Christ; the first Sunday following the full moon that occurs on or next after the vernal equinox, neither earlier than March 22 nor later than April 25.

    We spent each of the past five Easters together as a family.

  2. Easternoun

    Eastertide

  3. Easternoun

    The Jewish passover.

  4. Easternoun

    A festival held in honour of the goddess Eostre or Ostara and celebrated at the spring equinox or within the month of April. Also known as Eostre.

  5. easteradjective

    Eastern.

  6. Etymology: Probably from Old English ēasterra

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Easternoun

    The day on which the Christian church commemorates our Saviour’s resurrection.

    Etymology: eastre, Saxon; coster, Dutch.

    Did’st thou not fall out with a taylor for wearing his new doublet before Easter? William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet.

    Victor’s unbrother-like heat towards the Eastern churches, in the controversy about Easter, fomented that difference into a schism. Decay of Piety.

Wikipedia

  1. Easter

    Easter is a song from English neo-progressive rock band Marillions 1989 album Seasons End, which became a UK Top 40 hit when issued as a single in 1990. Allmusic describe the song as "heartfelt" with an "imaginative electric-acoustic arrangement". As with many Marillion songs, the album version features an extended guitar solo by Steve Rothery, which has become a fan-favourite, although it is heavily edited for the single version. The song was written by singer Steve Hogarth before he joined the band in 1989 and was inspired by The Troubles in Northern Ireland. The title is in reference to Easter 1916 by William Butler Yeats. Portions of the video were filmed on the Giants Causeway.

ChatGPT

  1. easter

    Easter is a Christian holiday that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, as described in the New Testament of the Bible. It is typically the most well-attended Sunday church service of the year. The date of Easter varies each year, but it typically falls between March 22nd and April 25th, on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the northern spring equinox. It concludes the "Passion of Christ," a series of events and holidays that begins with Lent - a 40-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance - and ends with Holy Week which includes Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. Easter also has secular traditions, including Easter eggs and the Easter Bunny.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Easternoun

    an annual church festival commemorating Christ's resurrection, and occurring on Sunday, the second day after Good Friday. It corresponds to the pasha or passover of the Jews, and most nations still give it this name under the various forms of pascha, pasque, paque, or pask

  2. Easternoun

    the day on which the festival is observed; Easter day

  3. Easterverb

    to veer to the east; -- said of the wind

  4. Etymology: [AS. ester, estran, paschal feast, Easter; akin to G. ostern; fr. AS. Estre, a goddess of light or spring, in honor of whom a festival was celebrated in April; whence this month was called in AS. Estermna. From the root of E. east. See East.]

Wikidata

  1. Easter

    Easter is a Christian festival and holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his crucifixion at Calvary as described in the New Testament. Easter is the culmination of the Passion of Christ, preceded by Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. The last week of Lent is called Holy Week, and it contains the days of the Easter Triduum, including Maundy Thursday, commemorating the Last Supper and its preceding foot washing, as well as Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Easter is followed by a fifty-day period called Eastertide, or the Easter Season, ending with Pentecost Sunday. Easter is a moveable feast, meaning it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar. The First Council of Nicaea established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon following the March equinox. Ecclesiastically, the equinox is reckoned to be on 21 March, and the "Full Moon" is not necessarily the astronomically correct date. The date of Easter therefore varies between 22 March and 25 April. Eastern Christianity bases its calculations on the Julian calendar, whose 21 March corresponds, during the 21st century, to 3 April in the Gregorian calendar, in which the celebration of Easter therefore varies between 4 April and 8 May.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Easter

    ēst′ėr, n. a Christian festival commemorating the resurrection of Christ, held on the Sunday after Good-Friday.—n. East′er-day, Easter Sunday.—ns.pl. East′er-dues, -off′erings, 'customary sums' which from time immemorial have been paid to the parson by his people at Easter.—ns. East′er-egg, eggs stained of various colours, given as presents on Easter; East′ertide, Eastertime, either Easter week or the fifty days between Easter and Whitsuntide. [A.S. éastre; Ger. ostern. Bede derives the word from Eastre, a goddess whose festival was held at the spring equinox.]

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

  1. Easter

    an important festival of the Church commemorating the resurrection of Christ; held on the first Sunday after the first full moon of the calendar which happens on or next after 21st of March, and constituting the beginning of the ecclesiastical year; the date of it determines the dates of other movable festivals; derives its name from Eastre, a Saxon goddess, whose festival was celebrated about the same time, and to which many of the Easter customs owe their origin.

Editors Contribution

  1. Easter

    A christian holiday that is celebrated on Sunday and/or Monday. Easter is a holiday mainly celebrated on Sunday, sometimes Monday, and is a celebration of new life and birth in spring. Children celebrate it by finding Easter eggs hidden by the "Easter Bunny"


    Submitted by rinat on April 23, 2020  

Etymology and Origins

  1. Easter

    From the Teutonic Ostara, goddess of light or spring; rendered by the Anglo-Saxons Eastre. This great spring festival lasted eight days.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. EASTER

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Easter is ranked #2769 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Easter surname appeared 13,036 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 would have the surname Easter.

    67% or 8,737 total occurrences were White.
    27.4% or 3,576 total occurrences were Black.
    2.5% or 329 total occurrences were of two or more races.
    1.9% or 259 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
    0.6% or 85 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.
    0.3% or 51 total occurrences were Asian.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'Easter' in Written Corpus Frequency: #2089

  2. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'Easter' in Nouns Frequency: #2037

Anagrams for Easter »

  1. arêtes

  2. aretes

  3. eaters

  4. reseat

  5. saeter

  6. seater

  7. staree

  8. teaser

  9. Teresa

  10. asteer

  11. eastre

How to pronounce Easter?

How to say Easter in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of Easter in Chaldean Numerology is: 2

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of Easter in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Examples of Easter in a Sentence

  1. Larry Hogan:

    Im not sure ... putting an artificial deadline of saying were going to get everything open by Easter is unrealistic from all the experts and the scientists that were talking to, this idea of somehow without any real data picking high risk versus low risk -- I dont think thats really realistic.

  2. Steven McCoy:

    We are speaking of downloading a multi-video chat app for Easter Sunday, easter Sunday has always been big in our family so we wanted to ensure we still celebrate Easter Sunday.

  3. Ginny Tobiassen:

    And that was in the fall, our Easter service was held as normal.

  4. Jonathan Scruggs , their attorney:

    Everyone should enjoy the freedom to peacefully live out their beliefs, this ruling transcends this particular subject matter. It protects atheist musicians from being forced to perform at Easter services. It protects LGBT web designers from being forced to create websites criticizing same-sex marriage.

  5. A. N. Wilson:

    Easter confronts us with a historical event set in time. We are faced with a story of an empty tomb, of a small group of men and women who were at one stage hiding for their lives and at the next were brave enough to face the full judicial persecution of the Roman Empire and proclaim their belief in a risen Christ.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

Easter#1#6757#10000

Translations for Easter

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

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"Easter." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/Easter>.

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