Little Office
- noun
- Specialized
:
Pequeña Oficina
- The monks gathered every evening to pray the Little Office together in the chapel.
Examples
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She carries a copy of the Little Office for her daily prayers.
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During Lent, many Catholics choose to recite the Little Office in addition to their usual devotions.
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I pray the Little Office daily.
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Join me for the Little Office!
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During Lent, many Catholics choose to recite the Little Office in addition to their usual devotions.
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She carries a copy of the Little Office for her daily prayers.
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The monks gathered every evening to pray the Little Office together in the chapel.
Synonyms
31
9.0
A church service that follows set words and actions
1
7.4
A short religious service often for private prayer
Surface Forms
Morphology
Little + office
The sense of 'Little Office' is directly built from 'little' (small/short) + 'office' (a liturgical service), so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a shorter devotional service. Although it is a specific ecclesiastical name, the adjective+noun composition follows ordinary English patterns and is therefore immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows the constituent meanings.
Etymology
The noun Little Office comes from church practice. It was a little, meaning 'short', office, meaning a 'set of prayers', made as a smaller version of the long daily services to honour the Virgin Mary, so today it means a short prayer service for Mary.