megillah

Also found in: Thesaurus, Idioms, Wikipedia.

Me·gil·lah

(mə-gĭl′ə)

1. Judaism The scroll containing the biblical narrative of the book of Esther, traditionally read in synagogues to celebrate the festival of Purim.

2. megillah Slang A tediously detailed or embroidered account: told us the whole megillah.

[Hebrew məgillâ, scroll, from gālal, to roll; see gll in Semitic roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

megillah

(məˈɡɪlə; Hebrew miɡiˈla)

n, pl -lahs or -loth (Hebrew -ˈlɔt)

1. (Judaism) a scroll of the Book of Esther, read on the festival of Purim

2. (Judaism) a scroll of the Book of Ruth, Song of Songs, Lamentations, or Ecclesiastes

3. slang anything, such as a story or letter, that is too long or unduly drawn out

[Hebrew: scroll, from galal to roll]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

me•gil•lah

or me•gil•la

(məˈgɪl ə; for 2 also Heb. mə giˈlɑ)

n., pl. -gil•lahs or -gil•las, Heb. -gil•loth, -gil•lot (-giˈlɔt)

1. Slang.

a. a lengthy explanation or account.

b. a tediously complicated matter.

2. (italics) Hebrew. a scroll, esp. one containing the Book of Esther, that is read aloud in the synagogue on Purim.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	megillah - (Yiddish) a long boring tediously detailed account; "he insisted on giving us the whole megillah" Yiddish - a dialect of High German including some Hebrew and other words; spoken in Europe as a vernacular by many Jews; written in the Hebrew script report, account - the act of informing by verbal report; "he heard reports that they were causing trouble"; "by all accounts they were a happy couple"
	2.	Megillah - (Judaism) the scroll of parchment that contains the biblical story of Esther; traditionally read in synagogues to celebrate Purim Judaism - the monotheistic religion of the Jews having its spiritual and ethical principles embodied chiefly in the Torah and in the Talmud scroll, roll - a document that can be rolled up (as for storage)

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

"You were hired for the whole megillah," Davidson say, explaining how everyone's tasks fed into the ultimate goal.

The spacesuits took years of Rolling Meadows man's work 'We did that, that boot print'

The guv--who had been criticized by JS and other Dems for not joining a 16-state lawsuit to protect projects like the shipyard's--quickly sent out a statement of his own, praising the Maine senator's "exemplary leadership" on the whole shipyard megillah.

Sending Senate signals

"Unlike more serious synagogue festivals, both children and adults often attend the 'Megillah' reading in costume," said Marta Josephs, joint president of the Representative Council of North East Jewry.

'It looked like they were on the sesh': Watch the booze-fuelled Bensham Jewish celebration; Geordie comedian Robin Armstrong posted the clip on Facebook - and it has gone viral

He's creating a new illuminated manuscript, in the style of the Haggadahbut this time, it'll be a Megillah.

Illuminating the Book of Esther

Instead, let's cultivate silence, "the best medicine of all" (Megillah 18a), by posting less.

What Sins Should We Atone For In Our Use of Social Media?

(150) See, e.g., Jerusalem Talmud, Megillah 28a ("The Torah, the Mishnah, the Talmud, and the Aggadah, and even whatever conscientious scholars will in the future originate, all was revealed to Moses as Sinai.").

Leveraging Legal Indeterminacy: The Rule of Law in Jewish Jurisprudence

Judson and chairmanship of Chaim Zhitlovsky, spearheaded a "Megillah campaign" to solicit subscriptions for a forthcoming, bilingual Yiddish-Hebrew edition of the Yehoash Bible.

THE PUBLICATION AND DISSEMINATION OF THE YEHOASH BIBLE, 1922-1942

He means the whole megillah, including what'll happen after the bulk of his readers die.

Half-full of it

This Shirah is not only read from the Torah on Shabbat Parashat Beshallah--known as Shabbat Shirah--but also on the seventh day of Passover (BT Megillah 31a; Rashi on Ex.

SHIRAT HAYAM: MIRIAM'S SONG?

He was also a prophet/seer (I Chronicles 25: 1; II Chronicles 29:30), listed in the Talmud (Babylonian Talmud, Megillah 14a) among the 48 prophets and 7 prophetesses of the Hebrew Bible.

LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS FROM THE DECLINE OF THE DAVIDIC EMPIRE

Evidence linking beauty to the Greeks would not surprise those familiar with Talmud Megillah 9b (KARSENTY 2013).