thanksgiving

Etymology

thanks + giving

noun

1. An expression of gratitude.
2. A short prayer said at meals; grace, a benediction.
3. A public celebration in acknowledgement of divine favour.
   Hester Earle and Violet Wayne were moving about the aisle with bundles of wheat-ears and streamers of ivy, for the harvest thanksgiving was shortly to be celebrated, while the vicar stood waiting for their directions on the chancel steps with a great handful of crimson gladioli. 1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 20, in The Dust of Conflict