Definition of "canticle" []

• A song or chant, especially a nonmetrical hymn with words taken from a biblical text other than from the Book of Psalms. (noun)
• Bible The Song of Songs. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "This canticle, which is not admitted into the authorized books, is to be found in fragments in the 237th letter of St. Augustine to Bishop Chretius; and, whatever disputes there may have been about its authenticity, it is certain that singing was employed in all religious ceremonies."
• "ANNE RICE, AUTHOR: Well, a canticle is a song and it's just a blood song."
• "(Antiphona also means the antiphon of a psalm or canticle, which is of the same form as in the Roman Rite.)"