coronation (kor on ash on)

[ It will be two of the clock ere they come from the coro nation . Shak ., 2 Hen. IV., v. 5. 2. The scene or spectacle of a coronation. In pensive thought recall the fancied scene, See coronations rise on every green. Pope , Epistle to Mi Blount (after the Coronation), 1. 34. 3. In the Gr . Ch . , the sacrament of matrimony; especially, that part of the marriage service which constitutes the nuptials, as distinguished from the preliminary office of betrothal. It is so called because the principal ceremony consists in the priest's placing garlands or crowns on the heads of the bridegroom and bride. In Greece garlands of olive branches, twined with white and purple ribbon, are used for this purpose; in Ru ia, metal crowns belonging to the church, and preferably of gold or silver. This ceremony is mentioned by St. Chrysostom and other early Christian writers. 4+. [An accommodated form, explained as having reference to the use of carnations in making garlands. Cf. the ML. name Vettonica coro naria] The carnation, Dianthus Caryophyllus. See carnation1, 3. coronation-oath (kor-ō-nā'shon-ōth), n. The oath taken by a sovereign at his or her corona tion.