different between prayer vs pernoctation

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English preiere, from Anglo-Norman preiere, from Old French priere, proiere, from Medieval Latin or Late Latin prec?ria, feminine of Latin prec?rius (“obtained by entreaty”), from precor (“beg, entreat”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /p???(?)/
• (US) enPR: prâr, pr???r, IPA^(key): /p???/, /?p?e???/, /?p???/

Noun

prayer (countable and uncountable, plural prayers)

1. (uncountable) A practice of communicating with one's God.

2. (countable) An act of praying.
   • 2020 December, Dave Barry, "Year in review":

3. The specific words or methods used for praying.

4. A meeting held for the express purpose of praying.

5. (countable) A request; a petition.

6. (in the singular, mostly in negative constructions) The remotest hope or chance.

   That team doesn't have a prayer of winning the championship.

Synonyms

• orison, precation
• bead (archaic)

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

pray +? -er.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p?e??(?)/
• (US) enPR: pr???r, IPA^(key): /?p?e???/

Noun

prayer (plural prayers)

1. One who prays.
   • 1974, Shel Silverstein, “Invitation”, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Harper Collins Publishers:

     If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar / A hope-er^[sic], a pray-er^[sic], a magic bean buyer…

   • 2012, Paul O'Connor, Islam in Hong Kong: Muslims and Everyday Life in China's World City

     Out of the 37 respondents, seven are infrequent prayers who prefer to leave the precise details of their prayer life ambiguous.

Translations

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Late Latin pernoct?ti? (“act of spending of the night (doing something, particularly praying)”) + English -ion (suffix forming nouns indicating an action or process, or the result of an action or process). Pernoct?ti? is derived from Latin pernoct?tus (“having spent the night”) + -i? (suffix forming abstract nouns from verbs); pernoct?tus is the perfect passive participle of pernoct? (“to spend the night”), from per- (prefix with the sense of completion or entirety forming verbs) + nox (“night; darkness”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nók?ts (“night; evening (?)”), possibly from *neg?- (“bare, naked”) in the sense of becoming bare of sunlight).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p??n?k?te??n?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p??n?k?te??(?)n/, /p???n?k-/
• Rhymes: -e???n
• Hyphenation: per?noct?a?tion

Noun

pernoctation (countable and uncountable, plural pernoctations) (formal)

1. (uncountable) The action of abiding through the night at a location; (countable) an instance of this; an overnight stay.
2. (uncountable) The action of walking about at night, especially as a vigil or watch; (countable) an instance of this.
3. (countable, religion, chiefly Christianity, obsolete) A religious watch kept during normal sleeping hours, during which prayers or other ceremonies are performed; a vigil.

Usage notes

The sense of a religious watch may apply either to a holy vigil or to diabolical activities.

Related terms

• pernoctate

Translations

References

Anagrams

• percontation