comforter means the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, comforter ranks #1,386 of 25,264 for Qualifying, #1,824 of 14,297 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #2,328 of 14,438 for Most Storied Words, #7,082 of 14,423 for Most Sublime Words.
comforter is pronounced /ˈkʌmfətə/.
Why “comforter” is a great word
A padded bed covering used for warmth and, as a title, the Holy Spirit as a source of consolation. From Middle English comfortour, from Anglo-French and Old French conforteor, from conforter ("to comfort") + -eor (agent suffix); this form was used as a translation of the Ancient Greek παράκλητος (paráklētos, "one called to aid, comforter") in the New Testament. Unlike a duvet, a plain bag intended for a cover, or an advocate, a figure of legal intercession, a comforter is a finished vessel of solace. It is the weight of a feather-filled quilt on a winter night, the particular rustle of synthetic fill as you turn in sleep, and the stubborn warmth that lingers after the fire has burned to ash. It does not argue or fix; it simply covers, and in covering, stays.
Etymology
A translation of the Ancient Greek παράκλητος (paráklētos, “comforter”), used in several verses of the New Testament.
name
- The Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost.e.g.“In these words, with which the Gospel for this day commences, He speaks of the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, and of the Father, and of Himself”
noun
- A person who comforts someone who is suffering.e.g.“Let no comforter delight mine ear / But such a one whose wrongs do suit with mine.”
- A padded cover for a bed, duvet, continental quilt.e.g.“A vast quilt or comforter was heaped beside the bed, in a broad puddle of congealed blood, thick and shiny on the patterned rugs.”
- A woollen scarf for winter.e.g.“[…] round his neck he wore a flaming red worsted comforter, whereof the straggling ends peeped out beneath his threadbare Newmarket coat, which was very tight and buttoned all the way up.”
- A pacifier.
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