abhisheka

• abhiseka, abhishek, abhishekh, abhishekha

From Sanskrit अभिषेक (abhiṣeka, “consecration, anointing of a king”), from अभिसेचते (abhisecate, “he sprinkles”), from अभि (abhi, “towards, in the direction of”) + सिच् (sić, “to pour or sprinkle”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ʌbɪˈʃeɪkə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌə.bɪˈʃeɪ.kə/

abhisheka (plural abhishekas)

1. (India) A ceremony involving ritual washing, cleansing or anointing. [from 19th c.]
   • 1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins 2013, p. 115:

     I paid the head priest for the abhishekh and asked him if I could have some privacy for a few moments.

   • 2016, Sunil Khilnani, Incarnations, Penguin 2017, p. 145:

     The origins os the abhisheka lay in Vedic ritual; it was an intricate procedure involving several baths and changes of vestments.

• Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], →ISBN), page 3
• “abhisheka” in Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief; William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors, The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 2002, →ISBN, page 4.

abhisheka f (plural abhishekas)

1. abhisheka (a ceremony involving washing, cleansing and anointing)