A Divine Scandal (page 3)

Up on my father’s bookshelf is an old blue dictionary.  And being the father he is, in order to repair the tattered cover he used duct tape.  Now, the binding’s intact and I’d have to say the definitions this book contains are probably still in tune with  more contemporary versions.

 

It’s a

Webster’s

Seventh

New Collegiate

Dictionary

based on Webster’s Third New International Dictionary.  It was published back in 1961.  The great part about this antique is that my father got it when he was only a child.  Evidence of this is in the first page where he scribbled his name crookedly not connecting all parts of the symbols which make one letter.

Now, 48 years later, I’m flipping through the book’s wrinkled pages noticing its unintentional dog ears, having to pull a page straight like ironing a dress shirt for a night out just so I can read what was printed, and finding what I need a few lines down on page 300.

“Faith,” is what it reads on the top.  And the archaic version of that is to believe or trust.  Go one more line down and you’ll come across “faithful.” 

¹faithful adj 1 obs: full of faith 2: steadfast in affection or allegiance: LOYAL 3: firm in adherence to promises or in observances of duty: CONSCIENTIOUS 4: given with strong assurance: BINDING <~promise> 5: true to the facts or to an original

            SYN LOYAL, CONSTANT, STAUNCH, STEADFAST, RESOLUTE: FAITHFUL implies unswerving adherence to a person or thing or to the oath or pledge or promise by which a tie was contracted; LOYAL implies a firm resistance to any temptation to desert or betray; CONSTANT stresses continuing firmness of emotional attachment without necessarily implying strict obedience to promises or vows; STAUNCH suggests fortitude and resolution in adherence and imperviousness to influence that would weaken it; STEADFAST implies a steady and unwavering course in love, allegiance, or conviction; RESOLUTE implies firm determination to adhere to a course or purpose.

²faithful: one that is faithful: as a: church members in full communion and standing b: the body of adherents to the Muslim religion c: a loyal follower or member