crusade

== English == === Alternative forms === (medieval history): Crusade === Etymology === From French croisade, introduced into English (in the French spelling) by 1575. The modern spelling emerges c. 1760,. Middle French croisade is introduced in the 15th century, based on Spanish cruzada (late 14th century) and Old Occitan crozada (early 13th century), both reflecting Medieval Latin cruciāta, cruxiata, the feminine singular of the adjective cruciātus used as an abstract noun. Adjectival cruciātus originally meant "tormented; crucified", but from the 12th century crucesignatus was also used for "marked with a cross; making the sign of the cross" and eventually "taking the cross" in the sense of "going on a crusade". Old Occitan crozada is used in the sense "[the Albigensian] crusade" in the Song of the Albigensian crusade, written c. 1213. From vernacular usage, Middle Latin cruciāta also comes to be used in the sense "crusade" from about 1270. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /kɹuːˈseɪd/ (General American, Canada) IPA(key): /kɹuˈseɪd/ (Australian, New Zealand) IPA(key): /kɹʉːˈsæɪd/ Rhymes: -eɪd === Noun === crusade (plural crusades) (historical) Any of the Papally-endorsed military expeditions undertaken by the Christians of Latin Europe in the 11th to 13th centuries to reconquer the Levant from the Muslims, as well as expeditions along the Baltic Sea and against the Cathars. Any war instigated and blessed by the Church for alleged religious ends, (especially) papal-sanctioned military campaigns against infidels or heretics. (figuratively, sometimes ironically) A grand, concerted effort towards some purportedly worthy cause. (politics, Protestantism, dated) A mass gathering in a political campaign or during a religious revival effort. (archaic) A Portuguese coin; a crusado. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Verb === crusade (third-person singular simple present crusades, present participle crusading, simple past and past participle crusaded) (intransitive) To go on a military crusade. (intransitive) To make a grand concerted effort toward some purportedly worthy cause. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === See also === holy war jihad === References === AskOxford.com === Further reading === “crusade”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “crusade”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “crusade”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.