a worshipper who knew the words of all the church songs and didn't need a hymnbook
Recent Examples on the WebThis inspiration is depended on throughout the church, from top to bottom, from prophet and apostles to choir directors and hymnbook coordinators. Gordon Monson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 28 May 2022 Back in Texas, Gail would entertain family guests by standing on the bench at the family piano and singing from the Baptist hymnbook. Sam Whiting, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 Apr. 2022 This strain of eliminationism is not simply a derangement of the political right; the notes sounded by the dollars versus deaths brigade come straight from the liberal hymnbook. Aaron Timms, The New Republic, 18 May 2020 Other Three-Self churches had hymnbooks, gospel pamphlets and Bibles confiscated and burned, according to Bitter Winter, a religious liberty magazine focused on China.Fox News, 28 Oct. 2019 Throughout the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, most hymnbooks were exclusively textual: little books of poems, in essence. Barton Swaim, WSJ, 23 Dec. 2018
Word History
First Known Use
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of hymnbook was before the 12th century