Passover

name

Etymology: Deverbal from pass over as a calque of Hebrew פֶּסַח (pésakh, “to pass over”) (see sense 1), coined by the English Biblical scholar and linguist William Tyndale (c. 1494 – 1536), in his 1530 translation of Exodus 12 of the Bible, the first in modern English: see the quotation.

1. The one-day Biblical feast or festival (not a holy day) that begins at twilight at the beginning of the fourteenth day of the first month (Abib or Nisan 14), during which the firstborn sons of the Israelites were passed over by God while those of the Egyptians were killed; this feast day is then immediately followed by the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread (Nisan 15 to 21; the first and seventh days are holy days or yearly Sabbaths).

   “And they ſhall take of the bloud ãd ſtrike it on the .ij. ſyde poſtes ãd on the vpper dor poſt of the houſes, whereĩ they eate hĩ. […] [I]t is the Lordes paſſeouer, for I will go aboute ĩ the lãde of Egipte this ſame nyghte, ãd will ſmyte all the firſtborne in the lande of Egipte: both of mã ãd beeſt, ãd apõ al the goddes off Egipte will I the Lorde do execution. And the bloude ſhall be vnto you a tokẽ vppon the houſes where in ye are, for whẽ I ſe the bloude, I will paſſe ouer you, ãd the plage ſhall not be vppõ you to deſtroye you, when I ſmyte the londe off Egipte.”

   “Theſe are the feaſtes of the Lord, euen holy conuocations, which ye ſhall proclaime in their ſeaſons. In the fourteenth day of the firſt moneth at euen, is the Lords Paſſeouer. And on the fifteenth day of the ſame moneth, is the feaſt of vnleauened bread vnto the Lord: ſeuen dayes ye muſt eate vnleauened bread.”

2. Synonym of Last Supper (“the meal that Jesus Christ ate with his disciples on the night before his death”).
3. Synonym of Paschal Lamb (“Jesus Christ symbolized as a sacrifice for the sins of humankind”).

   “Purge out therefore the olde leauen, that ye may be a nevve lumpe, as ye are vnleauened: for Chriſt our Paſſeouer is ſacrificed for vs.”

   “But let all vvho have any ſparkes of ſobriety, temperance or grace vvithin them, abominate theſe unchriſtian Chriſtmas extravagancies: […] And thereupon reſolving, to purge out all this old leaven, (of dancing, dicing, healthing, Playes and riot) that ſo they may be a nevv lumpe, becauſe Chriſt their Paſſeover is novv ſacrificed for them: casting avvay all theſe vvorkes of darkneſſe, and putting on the armour of light: […]”

4. The seven-day (in Reform Judaism) or eight-day (Orthodox and Conservative Judaism) Jewish festival of Pesach (also called the Feast of Unleavened Bread (מַצּוֹת (matsót)), commemorating the Biblical story of the Exodus.

   “["][W]e are to be rewarded for our pains by eating passover cakes." / "What are they?" / "Festival bread of the Hebrews, made in the new moon, with the milk of he-goats."”

   “Right now, my family's special collision of vegetarianism and Judaism necessitates a good bit of chocolate. But when Passover ends, that doesn't mean we should put the chocolate cake, or the chocolate milk, away.”

5. Synonym of Paschal Lamb (“the lamb traditionally eaten during Pesach”); also, the meal at which this lamb is eaten.

   “Then came the day of vnleauened bread, when the Paſſeouer muſt be killed. And he [Jesus] ſent Peter and John, ſaying, Goe and prepare vs the Paſſeouer, that we may eate.”

   “Then led they Jeſus from Caiaphas, unto the houſe of Pilate; and it vvas early, even before day, and they themſelves vvent not into the houſe of that heathen governour, leſt they ſhould be defiled by going in thither; as being carefull to keepe themſelves from all legall pollution, that they might bee capable of eating the Paſſover.”

6. A lamb which was sacrificed during the original Passover (sense 1).

   “And Moſes called for the elders off Iſrael and ſayde vnto them: chouſe out and take to euery houſholde a ſhepe, ãd [and] kyll paſſeouer.”

7. A major festival or observance.

   “And thus the Lords Paſſover, vvhich vve commonly call Eaſter, vvas order'd by the Canon-Lavv to be celebrated every Year on a Sunday, othervviſe ſtiled the Lord's-Day; becauſe our Lord on that Day of the VVeek, roſe from the Dead, and appear'd among his Diſciples: […] [T]he Angel of the Lord appear'd unto Hermes […] in the Habit of a Shepherd, and declar'd to him, by vvay of Command, that all Perſons vvere to celebrate the Lord's Paſſover on the Lord's-Day; and this Meſſage, or Order, he communicated to the ſaid Pope [Pius I].”

   “And by the firſt name [אביב (Avív)], the Indians, as an explicative, term their paſſover, vvhich the trading people call the green-corn dance.”

noun

1. Alternative letter-case form of Passover.