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selah

American  
[see-luh, sel-uh] / ˈsi lə, ˈsɛl ə /

noun

  1. an expression occurring frequently in the Psalms, thought to be a liturgical or musical direction, probably a direction by the leader to raise the voice or perhaps an indication of a pause.

selah British  
/ ˈsiːlə /

noun

  1. a Hebrew word of unknown meaning occurring in the Old Testament psalms, and thought to be a musical direction

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of selah

First recorded in 1520–30, selah is from the Hebrew word selāh

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

He’d ultimately expand the property to 5,500 acres and name it Selah, a Hebrew word that indicates a pause.

From The Wall Street Journal

Bamberger, who died Jan. 17 at his home at Selah at age 97, was a onetime CEO and largest individual shareholder of Church’s Fried Chicken, now Church’s Texas Chicken, and a driving force behind its franchising and aggressive expansion.

From The Wall Street Journal

At Selah, he made a point of showing visitors that his fences were made of old telephone poles, salvaged cable and eye bolts bought secondhand in bulk for 5 cents a pound.

From The Wall Street Journal

In addition to his restoration of the land now known as “Selah, Bamberger Ranch Preserve,” Bamberger was instrumental in the preservation of nearby Bracken Cave in the early 1990s, home to more than 15 million Mexican free-tailed bats—a colony believed to be the largest concentration of nonhuman mammals on the planet.

From The Wall Street Journal

Suddenly enchanted by bats, Bamberger next hired biologists and geologists to hunt for a spot at Selah where he could establish a bat population of his own.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.