altar
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
altar /ˈɔːltə, ˈɒl-/
▶noun the table in a Christian church at which the bread and wine are consecrated in communion services.
■ a table or flat-topped block used as the focus for a religious ritual.
– phrases
lead to the altar marry (a woman).
lead to the altar marry (a woman).
– origin OE altar, alter, based on late L. altar, altarium, from L. altus ‘high’.
'altar' also found in these Oxford entries:
altar boy
- altarpiece
- baldachin
- bema
- burnt offering
- burse
- chancel
- chantry
- chapel
- chevet
- choir
- ciborium
- dossal
- fenestella
- frontal
- frontlet
- Gospel side
- gradine
- high altar
- holocaust
- introit
- parclose
- piscina
- predella
- reredos
- retable
- retrochoir
- sanctuary
- squint
- superaltar
- tripod
