SA'CRED, a. [L. sacer, sacred, holy, cursed, damnable. We here see the connection between sacredness and secrecy. The sense is removed or separated from that which is common, vulgar, polluted, or open, public; and accursed is separated from society or the privileges of citizens, rejected, banished.]

1. Holy; pertaining to God or to his worship; separated from common secular uses and consecrated to God and his service; as, a sacred place; a sacred day; a sacred feast; sacred service; sacred orders.
2. Proceeding from God and containing religious precepts; as, the sacred books of the Old and New Testament.
3. Narrating or writing facts respecting God and holy things; as, a sacred historian.
4. Relating to religion or the worship of God; used for religious purposes; as, sacred songs; sacred music; sacred history.
5. Consecrated; dedicated; devoted; with to. A temple sacred to the queen of love. – Dryden.
6. Entitled to reverence; venerable. Poet and saint, to thee alone were given, / The two most sacred names of earth and heaven. – Cowley.
7. Inviolable, as if appropriated to a superior being; as, sacred honor or promise. Secrets of marriage still are sacred held. – Dryden. Sacred majesty. In this title, sacred has no definite meaning, or it is blasphemy. Sacred place, in the civil law, is that where a deceased person is buried.

1. Set apart by solemn religious ceremony; especially, in a good sense, made holy; set apart to religious use; consecrated; not profane or common; as, a sacred place; a sacred day; sacred service.
2. Relating to religion, or to the services of religion; not secular; religious; as, sacred history.
   
   

   Smit with the love of sacred song. Milton.

3. Designated or exalted by a divine sanction; possessing the highest title to obedience, honor, reverence, or veneration; entitled to extreme reverence; venerable.
   
   

   Such neighbor nearness to our sacred [royal] blood
   Should nothing privilege him. Shak.

   Poet and saint to thee alone were given,
   The two most sacred names of earth and heaven. Cowley.

4. Hence, not to be profaned or violated; inviolable.
   
   

   Secrets of marriage still are sacred held. Dryden.

5. Consecrated; dedicated; devoted; -- with to.
   
   

   A temple, sacred to the queen of love. Dryden.

6. Solemnly devoted, in a bad sense, as to evil, vengeance, curse, or the like; accursed; baleful.
   
   
   [Archaic]

   But, to destruction sacred and devote. Milton.

   Society of the Sacred Heart (R.C. Ch.), a religious order of women, founded in France in 1800, and approved in 1826. It was introduced into America in 1817. The members of the order devote themselves to the higher branches of female education. -- Sacred baboon. (Zoöl.) See Hamadryas. -- Sacred bean (Bot.), a seed of the Oriental lotus (Nelumbo speciosa or Nelumbium speciosum), a plant resembling a water lily; also, the plant itself. See Lotus. -- Sacred beetle (Zoöl.) See Scarab. -- Sacred canon. See Canon, n., 3. - - Sacred fish (Zoöl.), any one of numerous species of fresh-water African fishes of the family Mormyridæ. Several large species inhabit the Nile and were considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians; especially Mormyrus oxyrhynchus. -- Sacred ibis. See Ibis. -- Sacred monkey. (Zoöl.) (a) Any Asiatic monkey of the genus Semnopithecus, regarded as sacred by the Hindoos; especially, the entellus. See Entellus. (b) The sacred baboon. See Hamadryas. (c) The bhunder, or rhesus monkey. -- Sacred place (Civil Law), the place where a deceased person is buried.

   Syn. -- Holy; divine; hallowed; consecrated; dedicated; devoted; religious; venerable; reverend.

   -- Sa"cred*ly (#), adv. -- Sa"cred*ness, n.