anoint

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

verb choose by or as if by divine intervention
verb administer an oil or ointment to ; often in a religious ceremony of blessing

From Middle English enointen, anointen, borrowed from Old French enoint, past participle of enoindre (“to anoint”). Doublet of inunct.

Smeren, to anoint, 2442, 2448. — The Story of Genesis and Exodus: An Early English Song, about 1250 A.D., Unknown
—They are the Lord’s anointed, Dante said. — A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce
Come to the elæothesium to anoint my arms. — Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero, Henryk Sienkiewicz

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