Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CER-E-MO'NI-AL, a. [See Ceremony.]

1. Relating to ceremony, or external rite; ritual; according to the forms of established rites; as, ceremonial exactness. It is particularly applied to the forms and rites of the Jewish religion; as, the ceremonial law, or worship, as distinguished from the moral and judicial law.
2. Formal; observant of old forms; exact; precise in manners. – Dryden. In this sense, ceremonious is now used.

CER-E-MO'NI-AL, n.

1. Outward form; external rite, or established forms or rites, including all the forms prescribed; a system of rules and ceremonies, enjoined by law or established by custom, whether in religious worship, in social intercourse, or in the courts of princes.
2. The order for rites and forms in the Romish church, or the book containing the rules prescribed to be observed on solemn occasions.

CER-E-MO'NI-AL-LY, adv.

According to rites and ceremonies; as, a person ceremonially unclean; an act ceremonially unlawful. – Milton.

CER-E-MO'NI-OUS, a.

1. Consisting of outward forms and rites; as, the ceremonious part of worship. In this sense, ceremonial is now used.
2. Full of ceremony or solemn forms. – Shak.
3. According to the rules and forms prescribed or customary; civil; formally respectful. “Ceremonious phrases.” – Addison.
4. Formal; according to the rules of civility; as, to take a ceremonious leave.
5. Formal; exact; precise; too observant of forms.

CER-E-MO'NI-OUS-LY, adv.

In a ceremonious manner; formally; with due forms.

CER-E-MO'NI-OUS-NESS, n.

The use of customary forms; the practice of too much ceremony; great formality in manners.

CER'E-MO-NY, n. [L. Sp. It. Port. ceremonia; Fr. ceremonie.]

1. Outward rite; external form in religion.
2. Forms of civility; rules established by custom for regulating social intercourse.
3. Outward forms of state; the forms prescribed or established by order or custom, serving for the purpose of civility or magnificence, as in levees of princes, the reception of embassadors, &c. Master of ceremonies, an officer who superintends the reception of embassadors. A person who regulates the forms to be observed by the company or attendants on a public occasion.

CER'E-O-LITE, n. [L. cera, wax, and Gr. λιθος, a stone.]

A substance which in appearance and softness resembles wax; sometimes confounded with steatite. – Cyc. Cleaveland.

CE'RE-OUS, a. [L. cereus, from cera, wax.]

Waxen; like wax. – Gayton.

CE'RES, n.

1. In mythology, the inventor or goddess of corn, or rather the name of corn deified.
2. The name of a planet discovered by M. Piazzi, at Palermo in Sicily, in 1801.

CE'RIN, n. [L. cera, wax.]

1. A peculiar substance which precipitates on evaporation, from alcohol, which has been digested on grated cork. – Ure.
2. The part of common wax which dissolves in alcohol. – Dr. John.
3. A variety of the mineral Allanite.

CE-RINTH'I-ANS, n.

A set of heretics, so called from Cerinthus, one of the first heresiarchs in the church. They denied the divinity of Christ, but they held that, in his baptism, a celestial virtue descended on him in the form of a dove, by means of which he was consecrated by the Holy Spirit and made Christ. – Encyc.

CE'RITE, n. [See Cerium.]

1. The silicious oxyd of cerium, a rare mineral of a pale rose red color, with a tinge of yellow. – Hally. Jameson. Cleaveland.
2. A fossil shell.

CE'RI-UM, n.

A metal discovered in Sweden, in the mineral cerite, and so called from the planet Ceres. It is of a great specific gravity. Its color a grayish white, and its texture lamellar. – Dict. of Nat. Hist.

CER'NU-OUS, a. [L. cernuus.]

In botany, having the top curved downward.

CE-RO-GRAPH'IC-AL, a.

Pertaining to cerography.

CE-ROG'RA-PHIST, n.

One who is versed in or who practices cerography.

CE-ROG'RA-PHY, n. [L. cera, wax, and Gr. γραφω, to write.]

1. A writing on wax.
2. The art of engraving on wax, spread on a sheet of copper, from which a stereotype plate is taken.

CE-RO'MA, n.

In ancient architecture, that part of the ancient baths in which bathers used to anoint themselves with a composition of oil and wax. – Elmes.

CER'O-MAN-CY, n.

Divination by dropping melted wax in water.

CE-ROON', n. [from the Spanish.]

A bale or package made of skins.

CE-RO-PLAS'TIC, n.

In sculpture, the art of modeling or of forming models in wax. – Elmes.

CER'RI-AL, a.

Pertaining to the Cerris, or bitter oak. – Chaucer.

CER'RIS, n. [L.]

The bitter oak.

CER'TAIN, a. [cer'tin; Fr. certain; Sp. cierto; It. and Port. certo; from L. certus.]

1. Sure; true; undoubted; unquestionable; that can not be denied; existing in fact and truth. The dream is certain and the interpretation sure. – Dan. ii.
2. Assured in mind; having no doubts; followed by of, before a noun. However I with thee have fixed my lot, / Certain to undergo like doom of death, / Consort with thee. – Milton. To make her certain of the sad event. – Dryden.
3. Unfailing; always producing the intended effect; as, we may have a certain remedy for a disease.
4. Not doubtful or casual; really existing. Virtue that directs or ways Through certain dangers to uncertain praise. – Dryden.
5. Stated; fixed; determinate; regular. Ye shall gather a certain rate every day. – Ex. xvi.
6. Particular. There came a certain poor widow. – Mark xii. In the plural number, a particular part or number; some; an indefinite part, number, or quantity. “Hanani came, he and certain men of Judah.” “I mourned certain days.” – Neh. i. 2, 6. In the latter sense, it is used as a noun; as, “certain also of your own poets have said.” – Acts xvii.