psalm
n. countablen. a sacred song or poem used in worship. You usually find these in the Bible or other religious books.
n. a sacred song or hymn, in particular any of those contained in the biblical Book of Psalms. Often set to music for liturgical use.
The choir sang a beautiful psalm during the service.
The congregation stood together to recite a psalm of thanksgiving during the morning ceremony.
Scholars of ancient literature often analyze the rhythmic structures of the psalms to understand how they were originally performed in a musical context.
From Middle English salm or psalme, from Old English psealm, later reinforced from Old French psalme (modern French psaume), both from Latin psalmus, from Ancient Greek ψαλμός (psalmós, “the sound emanating from twitching or twanging perhaps with the hands or fingers, mostly of musical strings”) (from ψάλλω (psállō, “to make a sound by striking, touching, plucking, rubbing, twanging, or vibrating”)), but later in New Testament times the meaning of ψαλμός (psalmós) evolved from its Classical meaning of "a tune played to the harp" to a more general tune that could be played with any instrument; even a song sung with or without musical accompaniment. By the Byzantine Period, it lost all of its instrumental nuances.
Often capitalized when referring to a specific entry from the Book of Psalms (e.g., Psalm 23).
He sang a salmHe sang a psalmThe initial 'p' is silent, leading many learners to omit it in writing.