VESPER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Vesper mean? 

• VESPER (noun)
  The noun VESPER has 2 senses:

1. a planet (usually Venus) seen at sunset in the western sky

2. a late afternoon or evening worship service

  Familiarity information: VESPER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VESPER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A planet (usually Venus) seen at sunset in the western sky

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

evening star; Hesperus; Vesper

Instance hypernyms:

major planet; planet ((astronomy) any of the nine large celestial bodies in the solar system that revolve around the sun and shine by reflected light; Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto in order of their proximity to the sun; viewed from the constellation Hercules, all the planets rotate around the sun in a counterclockwise direction)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A late afternoon or evening worship service

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("vesper" is a kind of...):

divine service; religious service; service (the act of public worship following prescribed rules)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "vesper"):

placebo ((Roman Catholic Church) vespers of the office for the dead)

 Context examples 

Yet the fishers and the peasants raised their heads and looked questions at each other, for the angelus had already gone and vespers was still far off.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A strange thrill it gave to the young squire to see the well-remembered white dress once more, and to hear the measured tolling of the deep vespers bell.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Item, that between nones and vespers on the feast of James the Less the said brother John was observed upon the Brockenhurst road, near the spot which is known as Hatchett's Pond in converse with a person of the other sex, being a maiden of the name of Mary Sowley, the daughter of the King's verderer.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But we must on, if we are to be there before the drawbridge rises at the vespers bugle; for it is likely that Sir Nigel, being so renowned a soldier, may keep hard discipline within the walls, and let no man enter after sundown.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Yet here, day after day for an hour after nones, and for an hour before vespers, he found himself in close communion with three maidens, all young, all fair, and all therefore doubly dangerous from the monkish standpoint.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)