oefening, noun
- Forms:
- Also oeffening, oeffning.
- Plurals:
- oefeningen.
- Origin:
- Dutch.
obs. except in historical contexts
1. obsolete. A prayer meeting.
1824 W.J. Burchell Trav. II. 174In the evening, was held, what is called an oeffning (or, meeting; as distinguished from the regular church-service); which consisted in alternately reading and expounding parts of the New Testament, in extemporaneous prayers, and in singing psalms.
1861 P.B. Borcherds Auto-Biog. Mem. 170The regular attendance at church in the village and elsewhere on every first day of the week, the separate assemblies under the name of oeffeningen (meetings), however differing in method, operated jointly to effect the same object.
2. combinations
oefening-holder or oefening-houder/-ˌhəʊdə(r)/ obsolete [Dutch houder a holder (of office)], a lay preacher; oefenaar; cf. sieketrooster;
oefeninghuis/-ˌhœɪs/. obsolete except in historical contexts. [Afrikaans huis house], a meeting house, sometimes used for educational purposes.
1827 A.J. Jardine Fragment of Church Hist. 74Oefening holders, (Lay persons who hold divine worship in private houses.) Such must undergo an examination before the Church-wardens, and receive permission to hold service.
1979 E. Prov. Herald 23 Jan. 4Apart from the Drostdy, the town boasts of several more historical monuments. They include..the Meeting House (Oefeningshuis) which was built in 1838 for the holding of ‘religious services and prayer meetings and the education of the heathens’.
A prayer meeting.
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