Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The habit of living on dry food, especially a form of abstinence, as in the early church, in which only bread, herbs, salt, and water were consumed.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Among the primitive Christians, the living on a diet of dry food in Lent and on other fasts.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
restrictive diet (ofbread andwater , for example) as apunishment orreligious form ofdiscipline .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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In the Greek Church the law of abstinence is designated by the term xerophagy in contradistinction to monophagy, signifying the law of fasting.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 1: Aachen-Assize 1840-1916 1913
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Goar (Euchologium, Venice, 1730, 175) says that the Greeks of his day were allowed by an unwritten law to eat fish, eggs, snails, and such-like viands on xerophagy days.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 1: Aachen-Assize 1840-1916 1913
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Some of the Greeks, especially the Melchites, hold that xerophagy does not bind from
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 1: Aachen-Assize 1840-1916 1913
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In the beginning of the ninth century St. Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople, states that all are obliged to observe xerophagy during those seasons
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 1: Aachen-Assize 1840-1916 1913
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The xerophagy of Major Lent is likewise of ancient growth.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 1: Aachen-Assize 1840-1916 1913
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Fridays, or on days during their various Lenten seasons (Wednesdays and Fridays excepted), a complete or partial suspension of xerophagy takes place.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 1: Aachen-Assize 1840-1916 1913
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Custom has made the use of vine and oil legitimate on xerophagy days.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 1: Aachen-Assize 1840-1916 1913
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No doubt the practice of keeping xerophagy during these seasons originated in monasteries and thence passed to the laity.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 1: Aachen-Assize 1840-1916 1913
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From Ash Wednesday until Easter Day they keep xerophagy except on Saturdays and Sundays, when milk diet is allowed.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 1: Aachen-Assize 1840-1916 1913
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In their partial suspension of the xerophagy the Greeks maintain the obligation of abstaining from flesh meat, but they countenance the use of such other viands as are ordinarily prohibited when the law is in full force.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 1: Aachen-Assize 1840-1916 1913
john commented on the word xerophagy
From A.Word.A.Day:
The eating of dry food, especially food that's cooked without oil.
From Latin xero- (dry), from Greek xeros + Latin -phagy (eating), from
Greek phagia. In the early Christian Church, xerophagy meant eating food
cooked in water and salt during Lent. Xerophagy has also been practiced
in prison and in the military as a form of punishment.
"Your Uncle Charles had his blood cholesterol tested late last week. Though the verdict rendered was no worse than a rather unperspicuous 'Normal to Upper-normal', the penultimate modifier has caused, as you might anticipate, much pacing and high-decibel whingeing, as well as vows of eternal xerophagy from here on out."
David Foster Wallace; Infinite Jest: A Novel; Little, Brown and Company; 1996.
November 2, 2007
oroboros commented on the word xerophagy
Sounds like the letters Z R F A G.
May 17, 2008
shevek commented on the word xerophagy
Naw, it sounds like Z Ρ פ G.
July 17, 2008
jmjarmstrong commented on the word xerophagy
JM is not looking forward to the Xerophagy Club picnic.
October 17, 2009
qms commented on the word xerophagy
For hermits in their xerophagy
A diet of dust is philosophy.
It's also their practice
To forego a mattress
And slumber in wooden sarcophagi.
April 8, 2016