Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be
refused, if it be received with thanksgiving. --1
Tim. iv. 4.
In the thanksgiving before meat. --Shak.
And taught by thee the Church prolongs Her hymns of
high thanksgiving still. --Keble.
2. A public acknowledgment or celebration of divine goodness;
also, a day set apart for religious services, specially to
acknowledge the goodness of God, either in any remarkable
deliverance from calamities or danger, or in the ordinary
dispensation of his bounties.
Note: In the United States it is now customary for the
President by proclamation to appoint annually a day
(usually the last Thursday in November) of thanksgiving
and praise to God for the mercies of the past year.
This is an extension of the custom long prevailing in
several States in which an annual Thanksgiving day has
been appointed by proclamation of the governor.