Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The biblical books included in the Septuagint and accepted in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox canon but considered noncanonical by Protestants because they are not part of the Hebrew Scriptures.
- noun Various early Christian writings proposed as additions to the New Testament but rejected by the major canons.
- noun Writings or statements of questionable authorship or authenticity.
from The Century Dictionary.
- A writing or statement of doubtful authorship or authenticity: formerly used, in the predicate, as a quasi-adjective.
- Specifically— Eccles.: A name given in the early church to various writings of uncertain origin and authority, regarded by some as inspired, but rejected by most authorities or believers.
- [capitalized] A collection of fourteen books subjoined to the canonical books of the Old Testament in the authorized version of the Bible, as originally issued, but now generally omitted.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun plural obsolete Something, as a writing, that is of doubtful authorship or authority; -- formerly used also adjectively.
- noun plural Specif.: Certain writings which are received by some Christians as an authentic part of the Holy Scriptures, but are rejected by others.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun 14 books of the Old Testament included in the Vulgate (except for II Esdras) but omitted in Jewish and Protestant versions of the Bible; eastern Christian churches (except the Coptic Church) accept all these books as canonical; the Russian Orthodox Church accepts these texts as divinely inspired but does not grant them the same status
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Testament Scriptures -- one which was at once erroneous and singular among the Fathers of the Church -- applied the title Apocrypha to the excess of the Catholic canon of the Old Testament over that of the
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 1: Aachen-Assize 1840-1916 1913
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Apocrypha is a Greek word, signifying "secret" or "hidden," but in the sixteenth century it came to be applied to a list of books contained in the Septuagint, or Greek translation of the Old Testament, but not in the Palestinian, or Hebrew
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 13 — Religion and Philosophy Various 1909
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Early Protestant Bibles and some more recent ones included the extra books and some others in a separate section under the title Apocrypha, sometimes with notes explaining their inferior status.
Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium - Recent changes [en] 2008
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Aptly titled ( "Apocrypha" is Greek for "those having been hidden away"), this expansion will open up wormholes that will connect previously unexplored regions of the universe to the stars of New Eden.
Gaming Nexus 2009
-
Aptly titled ( "Apocrypha" is Greek for "those having been hidden away"), this expansion will open up wormholes that will connect previously unexplored regions of the universe to the stars of New Eden.
Gaming Nexus 2009
-
Aptly titled ( "Apocrypha" is Greek for "those having been hidden away"), this expansion will open up wormholes that will connect previously unexplored regions of the universe to the stars of New Eden.
Gaming Nexus 2009
-
Aptly titled ( "Apocrypha" is Greek for "those having been hidden away"), this expansion will open up wormholes that will connect previously unexplored regions of the universe to the stars of New Eden.
Gaming Nexus 2009
-
Aptly titled ( "Apocrypha" is Greek for "those having been hidden away"), this expansion will open up wormholes that will connect previously unexplored regions of the universe to the stars of New Eden.
Gaming Nexus 2009
-
Aptly titled ( "Apocrypha" is Greek for "those having been hidden away"), this expansion will open up wormholes that will connect previously unexplored regions of the universe to the stars of New Eden.
Gaming Nexus 2009
-
Aptly titled ( "Apocrypha" is Greek for "those having been hidden away"), this expansion will open up wormholes that will connect previously unexplored regions of the universe to the stars of New Eden.
Gaming Nexus 2009
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