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octave

octave

8.8
A period of eight days of religious celebration starting on a feast day
  • noun
  • /ˈɑːk.teɪv/
  • Jargon
translation icon : octava
  • Other Easter prayers making use of the verb transferre in this manner include the Post Communion for the Wednesday within the Octave for Easter and the Collect for the Monday after the Third Sunday of Easter.

Examples

  • The Church celebrates the octave of All Saints with special prayers and rituals.

  • The liturgical octave of Christmas lasts for eight days until January 1st.

  • Afterward, the observers went with the pope to the nearby place where John XXIII had first announced his intention to call a council (the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, on January 25, 1959, the last day of the Church Unity Octave).

    Academic text (2013)
  • By concession of Pope Benedict XIV, dated 8 March 1749, the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer solemnizes this feast as a double of the first class with an octave on the third Sunday of July.

    Blog text (1)
  • During the octave that follows Easter Sunday, many Christians participate in festive services.

Compounds

musical octave
  • Specialized
3.6

The gap between two notes where the higher sounds like the same note at a higher pitch

Surface Forms

octave singular
octaves plural

Etymology

Octave comes from the Latin octavus, meaning 'eighth', and was used for the 'eighth' day after a church feast. So an octave in church life means the feast plus the days around it — a special eight-day time of prayer.