\Thanks"giv`ing\, n.
1. The act of rending thanks, or expressing gratitude for
   favors or mercies.
         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.