Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An ancient Hebrew unit of dry measure equal to a tenth of an ephah, about 3.5 liters (3.7 quarts).
  • noun An offering of a sheaf or an omer of the first harvest of barley to a priest in the Temple on the second day of Passover.
  • noun A 49-day liturgical season, originally a harvest festival, from the second day of Passover to the first day of Shavuot, during which marriages are prohibited and signs of mourning are observed.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A handful of grain: a sheaf.
  • noun A Hebrew dry measure equal to the tenth part of an ephah, or 3½ quarts.
  • noun A handful of grain; a sheaf.
  • noun A Hebrew dry measure equal to the tenth part of an ephah.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A Hebrew measure, the tenth of an ephah. See ephah.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A dry measure of ancient Israel, one tenth of an ephah.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Hebrew ‘ōmer; see g̣mr in Semitic roots. Sense 2b, from the offering of a sheaf of barley on the second day of Passover.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Hebrew עמר (’ōmer, "sheaf").

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Examples

  • Bleich creates an analogy between ovum donation and grain before and after the omer which is what determines its permissibility or prohibition for eating.

    Reproductive Technology, New (NRT). leBeit Yoreh 2009

  • Please feel free to contact him at omer.kem@bissellprocycling.com.

    Inside the Caravan: Road trips, early alarms and problem solving. The season approaches 2011

  • Please feel free to contact him at omer.kem@bissellprocycling.com.

    Inside the Caravan with Omer Kem: What am I getting in to? 2011

  • Please feel free to contact him at omer.kem@bissellprocycling.com.

    Inside the Caravan: From training camp to Merco 2011

  • There is a dispute over whether or not women are included in the commandment to count the omer during the seven weeks between the second evening of Passover and the festival of Shavuot.

    Festivals and Holy Days. 2009

  • The Magen Avraham (Abraham Abele ben Hayyim ha-Levi Gombiner, c. 1637 – 1683) claims that since women have taken upon themselves to count the days of the omer, they are now equal to men in their obligation.

    Nature of Women. 2009

  • He also said Molvi omer, Ex spokes man of TTP resigned because he had no Telephone Facility in Bajor (I think Faqir Muhammad contacted BBC with Telepathy without using Phone because Bajor has no telephone Facility)

    BBC , Disinformation and TTP New Leader 2009

  • He also said Molvi omer, Ex spokes man of TTP resigned because he had no Telephone Facility in Bajor (I think Faqir Muhammad contacted BBC with Telepathy without using Phone because Bajor has no telephone Facility)

    BBC , Disinformation and TTP New Leader 2009

  • The Shulhan Arukh rules that counting the omer “is a mitzvah for everyone” (Orah Hayyim 489: 1); the operative halakhah, however, is that women are not obligated but may choose to observe this obligation.

    Festivals and Holy Days. 2009

  • They are: counting the omer; dwelling in a sukkah during the Sukkot festival; waving the lulav on Sukkot; and hearing the shofar on Rosh ha-Shanah, all commandments that are to be performed at fixed times.

    Festivals and Holy Days. 2009

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