crusade
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L31103 on Wikidata ↗verb
- act for a cause, in (or like in) holy war
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /kɹuːˈseɪd/ / /kɹuˈseɪd/ / /kɹʉːˈsæɪd/
noun
Etymology: Capitalised by Mills, The History of the Crusades (1820) when referring to a specific campaign ("The third and fourth Crusades" p. 95) but not when referring to the general concept ("the clergy successfully preached the crusade through all the German state" p. 87). More at crusade.
- Any of a series of religious campaigns by Christian forces from the 11th to the 13th century, mostly to capture the Holy Land from the Muslims and Jews who inhabited it.
verb
Etymology: From French croisade, introduced into English (in the French spelling) by 1575. The modern spelling emerges c. 1760,. Middle French croisade is introduced in the 15th century, based on Spanish cruzada (late 14th century) and Old Occitan crozada (early 13th century), both reflecting Medieval Latin cruciāta, cruxiata, the feminine singular of the adjective cruciātus used as an abstract noun. Adjectival cruciātus originally meant "tormented; crucified", but from the 12th century crucesignatus was also used for "marked with a cross; making the sign of the cross" and eventually "taking the cross" in the sense of "going on a crusade". Old Occitan crozada is used in the sense "[the Albigensian] crusade" in the Song of the Albigensian crusade, written c. 1213. From vernacular usage, Middle Latin cruciāta also comes to be used in the sense "crusade" from about 1270.
- To go on a military crusade.
- To make a grand concerted effort toward some purportedly worthy cause.
“He crusaded against similar injustices for the rest of his life.”