burnt offering

Offering \Of"fer*ing\, n.
   1. The act of an offerer; a proffering.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. That which is offered, esp. in divine service; that which
      is presented as an expiation or atonement for sin, or as a
      free gift; a sacrifice; an oblation; as, sin offering.
      [1913 Webster]

            They are polluted offerings more abhorred
            Than spotted livers in the sacrifice. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. A sum of money offered, as in church service; as, a
      missionary offering. Specif.: (Ch. of Eng.) Personal
      tithes payable according to custom, either at certain
      seasons as Christmas or Easter, or on certain occasions as
      marriages or christenings.
      [1913 Webster]

            [None] to the offering before her should go.
                                                  --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

   {Burnt offering}, {Drink offering}, etc. See under {Burnt}.
      etc.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Burnt \Burnt\, p. p. & a.
   Consumed with, or as with, fire; scorched or dried, as with
   fire or heat; baked or hardened in the fire or the sun.
   [1913 Webster]

   {Burnt ear}, a black, powdery fungus which destroys grain.
      See {Smut}.

   {Burnt offering}, something offered and burnt on an altar, as
      an atonement for sin; a sacrifice. The offerings of the
      Jews were a clean animal, as an ox, a calf, a goat, or a
      sheep; or some vegetable substance, as bread, or ears of
      wheat or barley. Called also {burnt sacrifice}. --[2 Sam.
      xxiv. 22.]
      [1913 Webster]
    

Burnt offering
Hebrew _olah_; i.e., "ascending," the whole being consumed by
fire, and regarded as ascending to God while being consumed.
Part of every offering was burnt in the sacred fire, but this
was wholly burnt, a "whole burnt offering." It was the most
frequent form of sacrifice, and apparently the only one
mentioned in the book of Genesis. Such were the sacrifices
offered by Abel (Gen. 4:3, 4, here called _minhah_; i.e., "a
gift"), Noah (Gen. 8:20), Abraham (Gen. 22:2, 7, 8, 13), and by
the Hebrews in Egypt (Ex. 10:25).

  The law of Moses afterwards prescribed the occasions and the
manner in which burnt sacrifices were to be offered. There were
"the continual burnt offering" (Ex. 29:38-42; Lev. 6:9-13), "the
burnt offering of every sabbath," which was double the daily one
(Num. 28:9, 10), "the burnt offering of every month" (28:11-15),
the offerings at the Passover (19-23), at Pentecost (Lev.
23:16), the feast of Trumpets (23:23-25), and on the day of
Atonement (Lev. 16).

  On other occasions special sacrifices were offered, as at the
consecration of Aaron (Ex. 29) and the dedication of the temple
(1 Kings 8:5, 62-64).

  Free-will burnt offerings were also permitted (Lev. 1:13), and
were offered at the accession of Solomon to the throne (1 Chr.
29:21), and at the reformation brought about by Hezekiah (2 Chr.
29: 31-35).

  These offerings signified the complete dedication of the
offerers unto God. This is referred to in Rom. 12:1. (See ALTAR
�T0000185, {SACRIFICE}.)