baptism
/ˈbæptɪzəm/ noun C1- A Christian sacrament, by which one is received into a church and sometimes given a name, generally involving the candidate to be anointed with or submerged in water. · The ceremony of baptism symbolizes spiritual rebirth.
- A similar ceremony of initiation, purification or naming.
- The moment at which an object is first assigned a proper name.
Plural baptisms
From the library
“‘I can, sir,’ said Haydée, drawing from under her veil a satin satchel highly perfumed; ‘for here is the register of my birth, signed by my father and his principal officers, and that of my baptism, my father having consented to my being brought up in my mother’s faith,—this latter has been sealed by the grand primate of Macedonia and Epirus; and lastly (and perhaps the most important), the record of the sale of my person and that of my mother to the Armenian merchant El-Kobbir, by the French officer, who, in his infamous bargain with the Porte, had reserved as his part of the booty the wife and daughter of his benefactor, whom he sold for the sum of four hundred thousand francs.’ A greenish pallor spread over the count’s cheeks, and his eyes became bloodshot at these terrible imputations, which were listened to by the assembly with ominous silence.
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