Omers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A historical unit used to measure grain quantities in ancient times ; a biblical period referring to the counting of days between Passover and Shavuot ; a rare plural form describing individuals who gather or measure grain harvests
2. An ancient dry measure for cereals ; the interval of forty-nine days counted in a religious context ; plural of a term denoting those involved with grain collection
3. A traditional volumetric measure for agricultural produce ; a sequential count marking a religious festival period ; a collective term for harvest workers related to grain gathering

Etymology: "Omers" is the plural of "omer," a word that comes from Biblical Hebrew, where "'ómer" meant "sheaf," a bundle of harvested grain stalks. The Hebrew term gave English an ancient unit of dry measure: the omer was an amount of grain offered in the Temple at Jerusalem, and the same word came to name a measure of time as well. The time sense is the more familiar one today. Jewish tradition counts the days from the second day of Passover to the festival of Shavuot, and this counting is called Sefirat Ha'Omer, "counting of the omer." Because the count runs for forty-nine days, "omer" came to denote that interval. The plural "omers" therefore refers to these periods of counting, or to more than one such measure of grain.