Definitions

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

  • noun A trumpet made of a ram's horn, blown by the ancient Hebrews during religious ceremonies and as a signal in battle, now sounded in the synagogue during Rosh Hashanah and at the end of Yom Kippur.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See shophar.

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

  • noun Judaism A ram’s-horn trumpet

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an ancient musical horn made from the horn of a ram; used in ancient times by the Israelites to sound a warning or a summons; used in synagogues today on solemn occasions

Etymologies

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

[Hebrew šôpār, ram's horn, shofar; akin to Akkadian sappāru, šappāru, fallow deer, and sappartu, tip of an animal's horn, from Sumerian šegbar, fallow deer.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the Hebrew שׁוֹפָר (shofár, "shofar")

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Examples

  • It's believed that when the shofar is sounded, Satan will be completely disoriented.

    Perry Garfinkel: A Hind-Jew in India Perry Garfinkel 2010

  • That is what Maimonides meant when he called the shofar "God's alarm call," asking us not to slumber through life, but to use it to bring blessings.

    Aish.com 2009

  • Jerry Lampen/Reuters STRIKES CONTINUE: An Israeli man blew a shofar, which is a ram's horn, near Kibbutz Nir Am as plumes of smoke rose above the northern Gaza Strip Sunday.

    Today's Photos: Jan. 12 2009

  • According to one of the Kabbalists, the shofar was the Jews first form of Tank because it caused the fall of the walls of Jericho.

    IDF Military Tank Excorsize | Jewschool 2004

  • And, I went to see him because I wanted to talk about the shofar, which is related to Isaac because the shofar, the ram's horn that Jews blow every year on the Jewish New Year is said to come among many reasons from the ram that saved Isaac from the binding at his father's hand.

    Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths 2002

  • BROWN: The shofar is a ram's horn, and for 3,000 years at this time of the year, the Jewish High Holy Days, it's been blown as a call to Jews around the world.

    CNN Transcript Sep 23, 2001 2001

  • A shofar is a horn, traditionally that of a ram, used for Jewish religious purposes.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Shira Hirschman Weiss 2011

  • Marked by the blowing of a ram horn known as the shofar in Hebrew, the holiday begins a 10-day period of repentance and reflection that ends with Yom Kippur, the day of atonement that is considered the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.

    PhillyClout 2011

  • A shofar is a horn, traditionally that of a ram, used for Jewish religious purposes.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com The Huffington Post News Editors 2011

  • When news of their release came, a member of the synagogue blew the horn known as the shofar during last Friday's services.

    Breaking News: CBS News 2011

Comments

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  • "Thus for the Jewish Nation, when the shofar sounds on the first and second days of Yom Teruah, Yam Ha-Zikkaron, (Rosh Hashanah), it strikes a very deep inner chord...."

    - unattributed, email.

    October 2, 2008