Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act or process of ascending; ascent.
  • noun Astronomy The rising of a star above the horizon.
  • noun In Christianity, the bodily rising of Jesus into heaven on the 40th day after his Resurrection.
  • noun A feast celebrating this event, observed on Ascension Day.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of ascending; a rising; specifically, the bodily passing from earth to heaven of Christ, in the presence of his disciples (Mark xvi. 19; Luke xxiv. 50, 51; Acts i. 1–11).
  • noun [capitalized] The day on which the ascension of Christ is commemorated in the church; Ascension day.
  • noun That which rises or ascends; a fume.
  • noun In astronomy, the rising of a star or point above the horizon on the celestial sphere.
  • noun A going back in time, or in the order of genealogical succession; ascent.
  • noun In mod. astron., the right ascension of a star or point of the sphere is the arc of the equator intercepted between its circle of declination and the vernal equinox or first point of Aries, reckoned toward the east. This meaning is derived from the conception of an observer at a point on the earth's equator where all the stars rise vertically.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of ascending; a rising; ascent.
  • noun Specifically: The visible ascent of our Savior on the fortieth day after his resurrection. (Acts i. 9.) Also, Ascension Day.
  • noun An ascending or arising, as in distillation; also that which arises, as from distillation.
  • noun the Thursday but one before Whitsuntide, the day on which commemorated our Savior's ascension into heaven after his resurrection; -- called also Holy Thursday.
  • noun (Astron.) that degree of the equinoctial, counted from the beginning of Aries, which rises with a star, or other celestial body, in a right sphere; or the arc of the equator intercepted between the first point of Aries and that point of the equator that comes to the meridian with the star; -- expressed either in degrees or in time.
  • noun (Astron.) an arc of the equator, intercepted between the first point of Aries and that point of the equator which rises together with a star, in an oblique sphere; or the arc of the equator intercepted between the first point of Aries and that point of the equator that comes to the horizon with a star. It is little used in modern astronomy.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act of ascending; an ascent

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (New Testament) the rising of the body of Jesus into heaven on the 40th day after his Resurrection
  • noun (Christianity) celebration of the Ascension of Christ into heaven; observed on the 40th day after Easter
  • noun (astronomy) the rising of a star above the horizon
  • noun a movement upward
  • noun the act of changing location in an upward direction

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English ascensioun, from Old French ascention, from Latin ascēnsiō, ascēnsiōn-, from ascēnsus, past participle of ascendere, to ascend; see ascend.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin ascensio ("ascent")

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  • n. Religious movement.

    January 9, 2009