different between observe vs hallow

English

Etymology

From Middle French observer, from Old French [Term?], from Latin observare (“to watch, note, mark, heed, guard, keep, pay attention to, regard, comply with, etc.”), from ob (“before”) + servare (“to keep”), from Proto-Indo-European *serw- (“to guard”). Cognate with Gothic ???????????????????? (sarwa, “weapons, armour”), Old English searu (“device, design, contrivance, art, cunning, craft, artifice, wile, deceit, stratagem, ambush, treachery, plot, trick, snare, ambuscade, cleverness, machine, engine, fabric, armor, equipment, arms”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b?z??v/, (rare) /?b?z??v/
• (General American, Canada) enPR: ?b-zûrv?, IPA^(key): /?b?z?v/
• Rhymes: -??(?)v
• Hyphenation: ob?serve

Verb

observe (third-person singular simple present observes, present participle observing, simple past and past participle observed)

1. (transitive) To notice or view, especially carefully or with attention to detail.
   • 1892, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb

     “One horse?” interjected Holmes. ¶ “Yes, only one.” ¶ “Did you observe the colour?”
2. (transitive) To follow or obey the custom, practice, or rules (especially of a religion).
3. (transitive) To take note of and celebrate (a holiday or similar occurrence); to follow (a type of time or calendar reckoning).

   • Ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread.

   • 2020 (March 7), Jackie Dunham, "Daylight time: How to get enough sleep when the clocks spring forward, CTV News:

     On Sunday, most of Canada will observe daylight time and spring forward an hour in order to reflect the increasing sunlight.

4. (intransitive) To comment on something; to make an observation.

   • Elbows almost touching they leaned at ease, idly reading the almost obliterated lines engraved there. ¶ "I never understood it," she observed, lightly scornful. "What occult meaning has a sun-dial for the spooney? I'm sure I don't want to read riddles in a strange gentleman's optics."

Synonyms

• (follow a custom): celebrate

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• observe in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• observe in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• obverse, verbose

French

Verb

observe

1. first-person singular present indicative of observer
2. third-person singular present indicative of observer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of observer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of observer
5. second-person singular imperative of observer

Portuguese

Verb

observe

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of observar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of observar
3. first-person singular imperative of observar
4. third-person singular imperative of observar

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ob?serve]

Verb

observe

1. third-person singular present subjunctive of observa
2. third-person plural present subjunctive of observa

Spanish

Verb

observe

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of observar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of observar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of observar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of observar.

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -æl??
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /?hæl??/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /?hælo?/
• Rhymes: -?l??
  • (US, dialectal) IPA^(key): /?h?lo?/
  • Homophone: hollow (in dialects with the father-bother merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English halwe (“a saint, holy thing, shrine”), from Old English h?lga (“a holy one, saint”), from Proto-Germanic *hailagô (“holy one”), from *hailagaz (“holy”), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, hale”), from Proto-Indo-European *kóylos (“safe, unharmed”). Cognate with Scots halow, hallow (“saint”), German Heilige (“saint”). More at holy, whole.

Noun

hallow (plural hallows)

1. (obsolete outside set phrases) A saint; a holy person; an apostle.

   All Hallows Eve (or Halloween), the night before All Hallows Day (now more commonly known as "All Saints Day").

2. (obsolete, in the plural) The relics or shrines of saints or non-Christian gods.

   To seek hallows: to visit relics or shrines, in the belief that the saints themselves are present there.

Derived terms

• All Hallows
• Hallow-day
• hallowdom
• hallowed
• Halloween, Hallow-eve
• Hallow-fair
• Hallowmas, Hallowmass
• Hallow-tide

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English halwen (“to hallow, sanctify”), from Old English h?lgian (“to hallow, sanctify, make holy”), from Proto-Germanic *hailag?n? (“to make holy”), from *hailagaz (“holy”), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, hale”), from Proto-Indo-European *kóylos (“safe, unharmed”). Cognate with Dutch heiligen (“to hallow”), German heiligen (“to hallow”). More at holy.

Verb

hallow (third-person singular simple present hallows, present participle hallowing, simple past and past participle hallowed)

1. (transitive) To make holy, to sanctify.
   • c 1599, William Shakespeare, s:The Life of Henry the Fifth, Act 1, Scene II

     ...I am coming on, to venge me as I may and to put forth my rightful hand in a well-hallow'd cause.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:consecrate

Derived terms

• behallow
• hallowed
• hallower
• rehallow
• unhallow

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English halowen, from halow (interjection), from Old English ?al? (“O!, alas!, oh!, lo!”, interjection), probably conflated with Old French halloer.

Alternative forms

• halow, alow, a lo (obsolete)
• hallo, hollo

Verb

hallow (third-person singular simple present hallows, present participle hallowing, simple past and past participle hallowed)

1. To shout, especially to urge on dogs for hunting.

Noun

hallow (plural hallows)

1. A shout, cry; a hulloo.
   • 1777, Robin Hood's Chase, reprinted in

     Then away they went from merry Sherwood / And into Yorkshire he did hie / And the King did follow, with a hoop and a hallow / But could not come him nigh.

   • I told them, the sherriff could not be admitted on board this time of night, on which they set up a hallow and rowed as fast as they could towards the vessel's bows.

Etymology 4

Adjective

hallow (comparative more hallow, superlative most hallow)

1. Alternative spelling of hollow