anthem

Definitions


[ˈanθəm], (Noun)

Definitions:
- a rousing or uplifting song identified with a particular group, body, or cause
(e.g: the song became the anthem for hippy activists)

- a musical setting of a religious text to be sung by a choir during a church service, especially in Anglican or Protestant Churches


Phrases:

Origin:
Old English antefn, antifne (denoting a composition sung antiphonally), from late Latin antiphona (see antiphon). The spelling with th, which began in the 16th century, was on the pattern of similar words such as Antony, Anthony




definition by Oxford Dictionaries