pray (redirected from praying)

family that prays together stays together

Prov. Families who practice religion together will not break apart through divorce or estrangement. Mother believed that the family that prays together stays together and insisted that we all say prayers every night.

See also: family, stay, together

pray for someone or something 

1. to beseech God, or some other deity, on behalf of someone or something. I will pray for you to recover from your illness quickly. As the fire spread throughout the old church, the congregation prayed for its preservation.

2. to ask God, or some other deity, to grant something. The family prayed for David's safety. All the people prayed for peace.

pray over something 

1. to say grace over a meal. Do you pray over your meals? We prayed over dinner just after we sat down to eat.

2. to seek divine guidance about something through prayer. I will have to think about it and pray over it awhile. I'll have an answer next week. She prayed over the problem for a while and felt she had a solution.

pray to someone or something

to utter prayers of praise or supplication to some divine or supernatural being or something. I pray to God that all this works out. The high priest prayed to the spirits of his ancestors that the rains would come.

pray to the porcelain god

Sl. to kneel at the toilet bowl and vomit from drunkenness. Wally spent a while praying to the porcelain god last night. I think I have to go pray to the porcelain god.

See also: god, porcelain