MARRIAGE – CELIBACY
(It used to mean “unmarried”)
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 1978, p. 216:
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 1992, p. 308:
Fundamentals of Human Sexuality, Katchadourian, 1989, p. 503:
Webster’s New World Dictionary of the English Language: Concise Edition, Guralnik, 1959, p. 120, “celiba…”:
Notice the difference:
Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language: Modern Desk Edition, Guralnik, 1979, p. 79, “celiba…”:
To:
Webster’s New World Dictionary and Thesaurus, 1996, p. 93, “celiba…”:
A Dictionary of the English Language: Academic Edition, Noah Webster, 1867, p. 61, “Celiba…”:
A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1806, p. 46:
That’s “a single life or state.”
Oxford Dictionary of the Bible, Browning, 1996, p. 61, “celibacy”:
The Greek word:
An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Liddell & Scott, Oxford, 1997 (first edition 1889), p. 3, “αγαμ…”:
Divry’s English-Greek and Greek-English Desk Dictionary, 1996, p. 53 (English-Greek), “celiba…”:
P. 394 (Greek-English), “αγαμ…”:
“αγαμ…” is the combination word of “α-” meaning “not,” and “γαμ…” meaning “marriage”:
P. 459, “γαμ…”:
A Glossary of Liturgical and Ecclesiastical Terms, 1877, p. 75, “CELEBACY”:
Webster’s Universal Dictionary of the English Language (unabridged), 1909, p. 269, “celiba…”:
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, 1897, p. 878:
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/celibate.html (Washington State University), Common Errors in English, “Celibate/Chaste”:
Believe it or not, you can be celibate without being chaste, and chaste without being celibate. A celibate person is merely unmarried, usually (but not always) because of a vow of celibacy. The traditional assumption is that such a person is not having sex with anyone, which leads many to confuse the word with “chaste,” denoting someone who does not have illicit sex. A woman could have wild sex twice a day with her lawful husband and technically still be chaste, though the word is more often used to imply a general abstemiousness from sex and sexuality. You can always amuse your readers by misspelling the latter word as “chased.”