E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Com’pline (2 syl.).
The last service of the day in the Roman Catholic Church. First appointed by the abbot Benedict in the sixth century. The word is a corruption of completo’rium.
1
In ecclesiastical Latin vesperinus, from vesper, means evening service, and completinus is formed on the same model.
