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Also, a roofike covering, supported on pilars over an altar, a statue, a fountain, etc.

A vault under altar of a Greek church.

To perfume with odors from burning gums and spices. The Salii sing and cense his altars round. Dryden.

the ceremonies thereof shall ye keep it [the Passover]. Numb. ix. 3 Bring her up the high altar, that she may The sacred ceremonies there partake. Spenser. [The heralds] with awful ceremony And trumpet's sound, throughout the host proclaim A solemn council. Milton.

That part of a church, reserved for the use of the clergy, where the altar, or communion table, is placed. Hence, in modern use;

A chapel or altar so endowed. Cowell.

a room or recess in a church, containing an altar.

A canopy usually standing free and supported on four columns, covering the high altar, or, very rarely, a secondary altar.

The small table by the side of the altar or communion table, on which the bread and wine are placed before being consecrated.

A vessel used to hold wine, oil, or water for the service of the altar. Cruet stand, a frame for holding cruets; a caster.

which performed the songs and dances of the dithyrambic odes at Athens, dancing round the altar of Bacchus in a circle. -- Cyclic poets, certain epic poets who followed Homer, and wrote merely on the Trojan war and its heroes; -- so called because keeping within the circle of a singe subject. Also, any series or coter…

Laid waste; in a ruinous condition; neglected; destroyed; as, desolate altars.

break up the structure and organic existence of; to demolish. But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves. Ex. xxxiv. 13.

A thing consecrated; an object of devotion. [R.] Churches and altars, priests and all devotions, Tumbled together into rude chaos. Beau. & Fl. Days of devotion. See under Day.

To make unholy; to profane. Tennyson. Nor can the unholiness of the priest dishallow the altar. T. Adams.

or Lord's) prayer. Howell. Some words altered in the dominical Gospels. Fuller. Dominical altar (Eccl.), the high altar. -- Dominical letter, the letter which, in almanacs, denotes Sunday, or the Lord's day (dies Domini). The first seven letters of the alphabet are used for this purpose, the same letter standing for S…

A hanging, usually of rich stuff, at the back of a throne, or of an altar, or in any similar position.

ere addressed to their Christian brethren by Apostles. Epistle side, the right side of an altar or church to a person looking from the nave toward the chancel. One sees the pulpit on the epistle side. R. Browning.

de of structure; pattern, model; as, the fashion of the ark, of a coat, of a house, of an altar, etc. ; workmanship; execution. The fashion of his countenance was altered. Luke ix. 29. I do not like the fashion of your garments. Shak.

Any small windowlike opening or recess, esp. one to show the relics within an altar, or the like.