The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary: Section S

From the opening

Sab"bat (?), n. [See Sabbath.] In mediæval demonology, the nocturnal assembly in which demons and sorcerers were thought to celebrate their orgies.

Sab`ba*ta"ri*an (?), n. [L. Sabbatarius: cf. F. sabbataire. See Sabbath.] 1. One who regards and keeps the seventh day of the week as holy, agreeably to the letter of the fourth commandment in the Decalogue.

There were Christians in the early church who held this opinion, and certain Christians, esp. the Seventh-day Baptists, hold it now.

Sab`ba*ta"ri*an, a. Of or pertaining to the Sabbath, or the tenets of Sabbatarians.

Sab"bath (?), n. [OE. sabat, sabbat, F. sabbat, L. sabbatum, Gr. sa`bbaton, fr. Heb. shabbth, fr. shbath to rest from labor. Cf. Sabbat.] 1. A season or day of rest; one day in seven appointed for rest or worship, the observance of which was enjoined upon the Jews in the Decalogue, and has been continued by the Christian church with a transference of the day observed from the last to the first day of the week, which is called also Lord's Day.

2. The seventh year, observed among the Israelites as one of rest and festival. Lev. xxv. 4.

3. Fig.: A time of rest or repose; intermission of pain, effort, sorrow, or the like.

Sabbath breaker, one who violates the law of the Sabbath. -- Sabbath breaking, the violation of the law of the Sabbath. -- Sabbath-day's journey, a distance of about a mile, which, under Rabbinical law, the Jews were allowed to travel on the Sabbath.

Syn. -- Sabbath, Sunday. Sabbath is not strictly synonymous with Sunday. Sabbath denotes the institution; Sunday is the name of the first day of the week. The Sabbath of the Jews is on Saturday, and the Sabbath of most Christians on Sunday. In New England, the first day of the week has been called "the Sabbath," to mark it as holy time; Sunday is the word more commonly used, at present, in all parts of the United States, as it is in England.

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