21 November 2014

invocation

[in-vuh-key-shuh n]

noun
1. the act of invoking or calling upon a deity, spirit, etc., for aid, protection, inspiration, or the like; supplication.
2. any petitioning or supplication for help or aid.
3. a form of prayer invoking God’s presence, especially one said at the beginning of a religious service or public ceremony.
4. an entreaty for aid and guidance from a Muse, deity, etc., at the beginning of an epic or epiclike poem.
5. the act of calling upon a spirit by incantation.
6. the magic formula used to conjure up a spirit; incantation.
7. the act of calling upon or referring to something, as a concept or document, for support and justification in a particular circumstance.

Origin
Middle English, Latin
1325-13751325-75; Middle English invocacio (u) n < Latin invocātiōn- (stem of invocātiō). See invocate, -ion

Related forms
invocatory [in-vok-uh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee], adjective
preinvocation, noun

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for invocation
– Formerly there were many churches in that city dedicated under the invocation of these two holy martyrs.
– Genevieve persuaded the people to build a chapel under his invocation on the spot where the abbey was afterwards founded.
– By the following years, when such words were all too accurate, they had been somewhat debased by premature invocation.

Anagram

a tonic vino
to coin vain
can I vino to

Today’s aphorism

It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.

– Voltaire

On this day

21 November 164BC – Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, restores the Temple in Jerusalem. This event is commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah.

21 November 1694 – birth of François-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire. French enlightment writer, historian and philosopher. A man of wit who advocated freedom of religion, freedom of expression and separation of church and state. Voltaire wrote more than 20,000 letters, 2,000 books and pamphlets. He criticised intolerance, religious dogma and social institutions. Died 30 May 1778.

21 November 1936 – birth of Victor Chang, a Chinese-Australian cardiac surgeon who pioneered heart transplants. Chang was shot dead on 4 July 1991, in a failed extortion attempt.

21 November 1965 – birth of Bjork (Björk Guðmundsdóttir), Icelandic singer-songwriter, producer and actress.

21 November 1986 – Oliver North, National Security Council staffer, begins shredding documents associated with the Iran-Contra debacle that could have implicated themselves and others within the Reagan administration in the illegal sale of arms to Iran in order to fund the rebel Nicaraguan Contras.