office

Definition

A ceremonial duty or service, particularly

Etymology

From Middle English office, from Old French office, from Latin officium (“personal, official, or moral duty; official position; function; ceremony, esp. last rites”), contracted from opificium (“construction: the act of building or the thing built”), from opifex (“doer of work, craftsman”) + -ium (“-y”, forming actions), from op- (“work”) + -i- (connective) + -fex (combining form of faciō (“to do, to make”)). The computing sense is a genericization of various proprietary program suites, such as Microsoft Office.

Example Sentences

• "Golde (gaue he him)[…]for all maner of veſſels of euery offyce[…]"
• "In the Latin rite, all bishops, priests, and transitional deacons are obliged to recite the Divine Office daily."
• "His spirituall exercises were chiefly Prayer, the H. Sacrifice of Masse, his Canonicall Houres or diuine Office."

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