Word of the Day: Holy, Holey and Wholly

holy

  ho-ly  /  hō-lē   adjective (holy, holier, holiest)  

1. sacred; divine; pertaining to God or a deity

O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Saint Augustine, 354 – 430  

2. regarded with reverence or designated for religious use

They are not all saints who use holy water. English Proverb  

3. godly; filled with spiritual devotion and high morals

Holy wisdom confounds Satan and all his wickednesses. Francis of Assisi, 1182 – 1226  

4. possessing extreme purity

There is a holy love and a holy rage, and our best virtues never glow so brightly as when our passions are excited in the cause. Charles Caleb Colton, 1780 – 1832  

5. considered as deserving special respect and awe

Joy is the holy fire that keeps our purpose warm and our intelligence aglow. Helen Keller, 1880 – 1968  

6. (informal) used to add emphasis, an intensifier

He was a holy terror when he drank! From “Of Time and the River” by Thomas Wolfe, 1900 – 1938    

holey

  hol-ey  /  hō-lē   adjective (holy, holier, holiest)  

1. full of holes, containing holes

I darned my holey tan cashmere stockings. From “Miss Million’s Maid” by Berta Ruck, 1878 – 1978    

wholly

  whol-ly  /  hō-lē, hōl-lē   adverb  

1. entirely, completely

There are few things wholly evil or wholly good. Abraham Lincoln, 1809 – 1865  

2. exclusively, fully, to the exclusion of other things

Lose yourself wholly; and the more you lose, the more you will find. St. Catherine of Siena, 1347 – 1380