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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Baptism \Bap"tism\, noun [OE. baptim, baptem, OF. baptesme, batisme, F. bapt[^e]me, L. baptisma, fr. Gr. ba'ptisma, fr. bapti'zein to baptize, fr. ba'ptein to dip in water, akin to baqy's deep, Skr. g[=a]h to dip, bathe, verb (used without an object)] The act of baptizing; the application of water to a person, as a sacrament or religious ceremony, by which he is initiated into the visible church of Christ. This is performed by immersion, sprinkling, or pouring.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
baptism
noun: a Christian sacrament signifying spiritual cleansing and rebirth; "most churches baptize infants but some insist on adult baptism"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
84 Moby Thesaurus words for "baptism": acceptance, admission, admittance, affusion, appellation, aspergation, aspersion, baptismal gown, baptismal regeneration, baptistery, baptizement, bath, bathing, bedewing, burial, calling, chrismal, christening, confirmation, dampening, damping, definition, deluge, denomination, designation, dewing, dip, dipping, dousing, drowning, duck, ducking, dunking, engulfment, enlistment, enrollment, extreme unction, flooding, font, holy orders, hosing, hosing down, humidification, identification, immergence, immersion, immission, inauguration, induction, infusion, initiation, installation, instatement, intromission, inundation, investiture, irrigation, laving, matrimony, moistening, naming, nicknaming, ordination, penance, rinsing, seven sacraments, sinking, souse, sousing, sparging, spattering, splashing, splattering, spraying, sprinkling, styling, submergence, submersion, swashing, terming, the Eucharist, total immersion, watering, wetting
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
BAPTISM, noun A sacred rite of such efficacy that he who finds himself in heaven without having undergone it will be unhappy forever. It is performed with water in two ways -- by immersion, or plunging, and by aspersion, or sprinkling.
But whether the plan of immersion Is better than simple aspersion Let those immersed And those aspersed Decide by the Authorized Version, And by matching their agues tertian. G.J.
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