tabernacle

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
tabernacle /ˈtabəˌnak(ə)l/

▶noun

• 1 (in biblical use) a fixed or movable dwelling, typically of light construction.

  ■ a tent used as a sanctuary for the Ark of the Covenant by the Israelites during the Exodus.

• 2 a meeting place for Nonconformist or Mormon worship.

• 3 an ornamented receptacle or cabinet in which a pyx containing the reserved sacrament may be placed in Catholic churches.

  ■ archaic a canopied recess in the wall of a church.

• 4 a partly open socket on a sailing boat's deck into which a mast is fixed, with a pivot so that the mast can be lowered.

– derivatives
tabernacled adjective.

– origin ME: via Fr. from L. tabernaculum ‘tent’, dimin. of taberna ‘hut, tavern’.