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christian

christian is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 5 senses. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.2. One born in a Christian country or of Christian parents, and who has not definitely becomes an adherent of an opposing system.
  2. 2.(Eccl.) (a) One of a Christian denomination which rejects human creeds as bases of fellowship, and sectarian names. They are congregational in church government, and baptize by immersion. They are also called Disciples of Christ, and Campbellites. (b) One of a sect (called Christian Connection) of open-communion immersionists. The Bible is their only authoritative rule of faith and practice. Note: In this sense, often pronounced, but not by the members of the sects, kris"chan.
  3. 3.Pertaining to Christ or his religion; as, Christian people.
  4. 4.Pertaining to the church; ecclesiastical; as, a Christian court. Blackstone.
  5. 5.Characteristic of Christian people; civilized; kind; kindly; gentle; beneficent. The graceful tact; the Christian art. Tennyson. Christian Commission. See under Commission. -- Christian court. Same as Ecclesiastical court. -- Christian era, the present era, commencing with the birth of Christ. It is supposed that owing to an error of a monk (Dionysius Exiguus, d. about 556) employed to calculate the era, its commencement was fixed three or four years too late, so that 1890 should be 1893 or 1894. -- Christian name, the name given in baptism, as distinct from the family name, or surname.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

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