Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PSALM, n. [sàm; L. psalmus; Gr. ψαλμος, from ψαλλω, to touch or beat, to sing; Fr. psaume; It. and Sp. salmo.]

A sacred song or hymn; a song composed on a divine subject and in praise of God. The most remarkable psalms are those composed by David and other Jewish saints, a collection of one hundred and fifty of which constitutes a canonical book of the Old Testament, called Psalms, or the Book of Psalms. The word is also applied to sacred songs composed by modern poets, being versifications of the Scriptural psalms, or of these with other parts of Scripture, composed for the use of churches; as, the Psalms of Tate and Brady, of Watts, &c.