Vesper

Also 7 pl. vespres. [Partly a. L. vesper masc. (hence OF. vespre, older F. vêpre, Pr. vespre, Sp. vespero, Pg. vespera, It. vespero, vespro), evening star, evening, cognate with Gr. ἔσπερος HESPERUS. Partly ad. older F. vespres (mod.F. vêpres), vespers, evensong, ad. L. vesperas (nom. vesperæ), acc. pl. of vespera fem.; hence also Pr. vespras, Sp. visperas, Pg. vesperas. For the use of the plural form cf. matins, nones.]

  I.  In the singular form.

  1.  poet. (or rhet.). With capital. The evening star; Hesper, Hesperus.

1390.  Gower, Conf., II. 109. Whan that thi liht is faded And Vesper scheweth him alofte.

1508.  Dunbar, Gold. Targe, 2. Ryght as the stern of day begouth to schyne, Quhen gone to bed war Vesper and Lucyne, I raise.

1577.  Grange, Golden Aphrod., etc., R iij b. Phebus … His course was done, & Vesper she with Luna playde their partes.

1593.  G. Peele, Hon. Order Garter, B j. About the time when Vesper in the West Gan set the euening watch.

1633.  P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., V. lxx. Vesper fair Cynthia ushers, and her train, See, th’ apish earth hath lighted many a starre.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 343. Red Vesper kindles there the tapers of the night.

1762.  Falconer, Shipwr., I. 657. While glowing Vesper leads the starry train.

1820.  Keats, Ode to Psyche, 27. Fairer than Phœbe’s sapphire-region’d star, Or Vesper, amorous glow-worm of the sky.

  transf.  1815.  Shelley, Adonais, xlvi. Assume thy winged throne, thou Vesper of our throng!

  2.  Evening, eventide; an evening. Also personif. Now rare or Obs.

1606.  Shaks., Ant. & Cl., IV. xiv. 8. Thou hast seene these Signes, They are blacke Vespers Pageants.

1613.  Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 123. From which ninth houre the Iewes began their Vespera or Euening…. In these Vespers, as also on the Euen of euery Feast and Sabbath, after the euening sacrifice, they which doe any worke … shall neuer see good signe of a blessing.

1712.  Budgell, Spect., No. 425, ¶ 3. The one [companion] was Aurora…: The other was Vesper in a Robe of Azure beset with Drops of Gold.

1798.  Coleridge, Anc. Mar., 76. In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, It perched for vespers nine.

1849.  Thoreau, Week Concord Riv., 26. From highest noon till the red vesper sinks into the west.

  fig.  1701.  Norris, Ideal World, I. iii. 160. There cannot be any vespers in the great sun of truth.

  3.  Vespers, evensong. (See 6.) Also transf. † In early use with a or the.

1636.  Massinger, Bashf. Lover, I. i. If you miss him when She goes to the vesper or the matins, hang me!

1657.  Thornley, trans. Longus’ Daphnis & Chloe, A iij b. I will tell you a storie, one I had at a Tavern vesper.

1737.  Ozell’s Rabelais, I. xl. 315. A Mass, a Matine, a Vesper well sung is half said.

1815.  Shelley, Alastor, 694. Mighty Earth From sea and mountain, city and wilderness, In vesper low or joyous orison, Lifts still its solemn voice.

1844.  Mem. Babylonian Princess, II. 309. I knew that many of those with whom I was acquainted attended mass and vesper at this chapel.

  4.  ellipt. The vesper-bell.

1808.  Scott, Marmion, II. xxxiii. Even in the vesper’s heavenly tone, They seem’d to hear a dying groan.

1817.  Moore, Lalla R., Paradise & P., 440. But, hark! the vesper calls to pray’r.

  II.  In collective pl. Vespers.

  † 5.  a. In Univ. use: The public disputations and accompanying ceremonies which immediately preceded the inception or commencement of a Bachelor of Arts; esp. in later use at Oxford, the day on which these were held, the eve of the Act. Cf. VESPERY, Obs.

1574.  M. Stokys, in Peacock, Stat. Cambr. (1841), App. A. p. xxii. The Bedyll shall bryng the Inceptours in Arte to the Place where the commensement shall be kepte, and so shall begynn the Vespers in Arte and in Civill. Ibid., p. xxiv. The Father in Arte in the Ve[s]pers shall sytt in the West ende off the Chyrche.

1657.  Owen, Vind. Treat. Schism, i. Wks. 1855, XIII. 217. A learned gentleman, whom I had prevailed withal to answer in the Vespers of our Act, sent me his questions.

1681.  Grew, Musæum, IV. ii. 361. I read two Publique Lectures at Oxford, on the Vespers of the Publique Act.

1715.  Hearne, Collect. (O.H.S.), V. 93. Lectures in the Vespers. The Vespers on Saturday.

  † b.  The eve of a festival, or of the Passion.

1629.  Donne, Serm., 73. What a dimme Vespers of a glorious festivall.

1660.  Jer. Taylor, Worthy Commun., i. § 3. 49. The Sacrament of the Lords Supper … being instituted in the vespers of the passion. Ibid. (1663), Serm. 1 Cor. xv. 23, 33. And as the Apostles in the vespers of Christs passion, so he in the Eves of his own dissolution was … heavie unto death.

1697.  Burghope, Disc. Relig. Assemb., 132. Our blessed Lord in the vespers of his death.

  6.  Eccl. The sixth of the Canonical Hours of the breviary, said or celebrated towards evening; = EVENSONG 1; also, the time of this office.

  Usually without article, but occas. with the, and sometimes with a sing. verb.

1611.  Coryat, Crudities, 14. I came into their Church at the time of prayers in the afternoone, the Nunnes being then at their Vespers.

1644.  in Eng. Hist. Rev., April (1913), 341. The parish Church in Ruell where the King and Queene were at Vespres.

1702.  in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ., VII. 127. Afternoon we went to Vespers to ye Abbay of S^t Floraux, a Benedictine Order.

c. 1731.  Diary Blue Nuns, Ibid., VIII. 92. About three a clock in the afternoon whilst we were at vespers.

1756.  trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), IV. 19. On Ascension-eve, vespers are performed with great pomp and splendor.

1832.  G. Downes, Lett. Cont. Countries, I. 34. I stopped to attend vespers at the Cathedral of St. Denis.

1871.  Miss Mulock, Fair France, iv. 142. Vespers is, I conclude, a litany rather than a mass.

1884.  F. M. Crawford, Rom. Singer, I. 24. Then we went into the Capella del Coro to wait for the vespers.

  † b.  Applied to the Evening Prayer or Evensong of the Church of England. Obs. rare.

1660.  Pepys, Diary, 2 Oct. At Will’s I met with Mr. Spicer, and with him to the Abbey to see them at vespers.

  c.  With distinguishing terms denoting special forms of this office.

  Sicilian vespers: see SICILIAN a. 2 a.

a. 1700.  in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ., IX. 368. At y^e first vespers of y^e Assomption of o^r Blessed Lady.

1762.  Evening-Office of Church (ed. 2), 300. In the second Vespers, is a commemoration of S. Paul. Ibid., 363. After Benedicamus Domino, the Vespers of the Dead are said.

1908.  Ch. Times, 13 March, 347/2. Vespers for the Dead, in the form sanctioned by Bishop Creighton, was sung.

  d.  poet. Evening prayers or devotions.

1814.  Shelley, in Dowden, Life (1887), I. 496. Adieu; remember love at vespers before sleep, I do not omit my prayers.

1820.  Keats, Eve St. Agnes, xxvi. Her vespers done, Of all its wreathed pearls her hair she frees.

  7.  transf. The evening song of a bird. Cf. EVENSONG 2. Chiefly poet.

1678.  H. Vaughan, Pious Th., 225. I heard last May … The pleasant Philomel her vespers sing.

1795–1814.  Wordsw., Excurs., IV. 1169. If the solemn nightingale be mute, And the soft woodlark here did never chant Her vespers.

1813.  Scott, Rokeby, V. ii. Hoarse into middle air arose The vespers of the roosting crows.

1854.  Thoreau, Walden, iv. (1884), 135. The whippoorwills chanted their vespers for half an hour.

  III.  8. attrib. a. In the sense ‘of or belonging to, used at or for, vespers or evensong,’ as vesper-bell, -carol, -chime, -hymn, light, psalm, -song, etc.; vesper-book (also † vespers book), a vesperal; vesper music (see quot.); vesper service, vespers, evensong.

  In general use freq. passing into next.

1794.  Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xxxvi. The monastery, whose *vesper-bell she had heard on the preceding evening.

1844.  Dickens, Pictures from Italy (Collins), 244. To the ringing of vesper-bells, darkness sets in.

1864.  Skeat, trans. Uhland’s Poems, 223. The sun sinks down, the vesper-bell bids men to rest and pray.

1772.  in Catholic Records Soc. Publ., I. 138. 4 Vols: of Mass Books,… *Vesperse Book.

1850.  (title) Vesper-Book; containing the complete Order for Vespers for the entire Year, according to the Roman Breviary.

1865.  Pall Mall G., No. 140. 3/1. The vesper-book used by Roman Catholics.

1818.  Keats, Endym., IV. 834. Therefore for her these *vesper-carols are.

a. 1835.  Mrs. Hemans, My own Portrait, Poems (1875), 487. Even as a sound of *vesper-chimes Can wake departed things.

1808.  Skurray, Bidcombe Hill, 7. The blackbird from the ivied temple chants His *vesper-hymn.

1866.  Engel, Nat. Music, viii. 281. The Roman Catholics … have their Vesper Hymns, and the singing of these appears to be customary in most countries where the Roman Catholic faith prevails.

1892.  Ch. Times, 4 Nov., 1094/2. An oaken altar … with *vesper lights.

1888.  Jacobi, Printers’ Voc., 151. *Vesper music, plain chant or Gregorian music is thus designated.

1823.  Mrs. Hemans, Vespers of Palermo, III. iii. Here … meet me, when the bell Doth sound for *vesper-prayer!

1896.  Swete, Ch. Services, 62. The *vesper Psalms were five in number, recited as at Mattins in regular course.

1797.  Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, vi. The *vesper-service of the monks.

1844.  Dickens, Mart. Chuz., v. The old cathedral bell began to ring for vesper service.

1904.  Wordsw. & Littlehales, Old Service Bks., 79. The Evensong or vesper service of Sunday and other days of the week.

1810.  Scott, Lady of L., III. xxiii. To-morrow eve … My *vesper song [may be] thy wail, sweet maid!

1871.  Longf., Wayside Inn, II. Baron St. Castine, 169. No day is so long But it comes at last to vesper-song.

1813.  Scott, Trierm., I. i. Holy as hermit’s *vesper strain.

1866.  Neale, Sequences & Hymns, 81. It shall blend its *vesper summons With the day’s departing smile.

1808.  Scott, Marmion, V. vi. There must the Baron rest, Till past the hour of *vesper tide.

a. 1849.  J. C. Mangan, Poems (1859), 49. From streaky gleam of morning’s light Until the *vesper-toll.

1845.  R. S. Hawker, Ball. Cornw., etc. (1869), 45. Teach me, Father John, to say *Vesper-verse and matin-lay.

  b.  In the sense ‘of or belonging to, characteristic of, occurring in, the evening; vespertinal.’

1791.  E. Darwin, Bot. Gard., I. 63. Soft fell the vesper-drops, condensed below, Or bent in air the rain-refracted bow.

1794.  Sporting Mag., IV. 58. A vesper-blue curricle.

1810.  Associate Minstrels, 6. Fair shines the vesper-star.

1832.  G. Downes, Lett. Cont. Countries, I. 63. To preside over bread and butter at the vesper tea-table.

1839.  De Quincey, Recoll. Lakes, Wks. 1862, II. 134. Yet in these eyes of vesper gentleness, there was a considerable obliquity of vision.

1887.  J. Ashby-Sterry, Lazy Minstrel (1892), 208. When rooms with the vesper tobacco are clouded.

1890.  Sat. Rev., 23 Aug., 225/1. Rich in every imaginable tint of vesper beauty.

  c.  (Chiefly U.S.) In the names of animals, birds or insects, as vesper-beauty, vesper-bird or -sparrow (see quots.); vesper mouse, a mouse of the genus Hesperomys or Vesperimus or related genera; a white-footed mouse.

1832.  J. Rennie, Consp. Butterfl. & M., 115. The Vesper Beauty (Epione vespertaria) appears the middle of July.

1859.  S. F. Baird, Mammals N. Amer., 455. A striking feature of the North American vesper mice, to anglicize Wagner’s name, is their diminutive size compared with the South American.

1869.  J. Burroughs, in Galaxy Mag., Aug. They [i.e., grass-finches] sing much after sundown, hence the aptness of the name vesper-sparrow, which a recent writer, Wilson Flagg, has bestowed upon them.

1884.  Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 364. Passerculus gramineus,… Grass Finch. Bay-winged Bunting. Vesper-Bird.

1893.  Scribner’s Mag., June, 764/1. Our little vesper sparrow is said to have had the same end in view when he made his soft sweet carol the vesper-song of the uplands.

  † d.  In sense 5 a, as vesper disputations. Obs.

1715.  Hearne, Collect. (O.H.S.), V. 93. Vesper Disputations in Philosophy. Vesper Disputations in Law.