Scrift

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The confession of sins made to a priest ; the absolution or penance granted by a priest after hearing confession
2. A person's admission of wrongdoing to a priest in the sacrament of penance ; the forgiveness and spiritual remedy a priest imparts in response
3. The act of confessing sins to a clergyman ; the remission of sins and assigned penance that follows from priestly absolution

Etymology: "Scrift" is an obsolete spelling of "shrift," the older word for a confession made to a priest, and the word survives mainly in the phrase "short shrift." In Old English, "scrift" meant a penance or an imposed confession, and it came from the verb "scrifan," meaning to prescribe or impose a penance. That verb is linked to Latin "scribere," "to write," through the idea of a judgment or decree set down in writing, though the exact path is debated among scholars. The idiom "short shrift" once described the brief time a condemned prisoner was allowed for confession before execution. Its later sense of curt, unceremonious treatment grew from that original grim setting.

Synonyms: confession, penance, absolution