Of"fer*to*ry (?), n.; pl. Offertories . [L. offertorium the place to which offerings were brought, in LL. offertory: cf.F. offertoire.] 1. The act of offering, or the thing offered. [Obs. or R.] Bacon. Bp. Fell.

2. (R.C.Ch.) (a) An anthem chanted, or a voluntary played on the organ, during the offering and first part of the Mass. (b) That part of the Mass which the priest reads before uncovering the chalice to offer up the elements for consecration. (c) The oblation of the elements.

3. (Ch. of Eng. & Prot. Epis. Ch.) (a) The Scripture sentences said or sung during the collection of the offerings. (b) The offerings themselves.

• money offered or donated during a church service
       
• 1914: Stephen Leacock, Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich - Before a month had passed the congregation at the evening service at St. Asaph's Church was so slender that the offertory, as Mr. Furlong senior himself calculated, was scarcely sufficient to pay the overhead charge of collecting it.
  
• the part of a church serivce when offerings are collected
       
• 1922: Upton Sinclair, They Call Me Carpenter - I sat through the sermon, and the offertory, and the recessional.
  
• music sung or played during the offertory of a church service
       
• c.1390: Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales - But alderbest he sang an offertory: / For well he wiste , when that song was sung, / He muste preach,...
       
• 1922: Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt - There was an impressive musical program, conducted by Sheldon Smeeth, educational director of the Y.M.C.A., who also sang the offertory.