altar

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An elevated place or structure before which religious ceremonies may be enacted or upon which sacrifices may be offered.
2. n. A structure, typically a table, before which the divine offices are recited and upon which the Eucharist is celebrated in Christian churches.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. An elevated place or structure, a block of stone, or any object of appropriate form, on which sacrifices are offered or incense is burned to a deity. The earliest altars were turf mounds, large flat-topped stones, or other rude elevations, natural or artificial; but when temples came to be built altars were generally made of hewn stone, marble, or metal, and became more and more ornate. Greek and Roman altars were round, triangular, or square in plan, often elaborately adorned with sculpture, and bearing inscriptions. Sometimes, as at Pergamon, the altar was a structure of vast size and complex plan, and was in itself an art monument of the highest importance. In the Jewish worship two altars were used: the altar of burnt-offering, which stood at the entrance to the tabernacle, and afterward occupied a corresponding position in the temple, and the altar of incense, which stood in the holy place. Both were made of shittim-wood, the former being overlaid with brass, the latter with gold.
2. n. In most Christian churches, the communion-table. In the primitive church it was of wood, subsequently of stone, marble, or bronze, sometimes with rich architectural ornaments, sculptures, and painting. In the Roman Catholic Church the altar is the table, since the early ages of the church either of stone or including a block of stone (the altar-stone), upon which the priest consecrates the eucharist. The altar-stone is consecrated by the bishop or a specially licensed abbot, who anoints it with chrism, and often seals up certain relics in a small cavity made for the purpose; the consecration remains in virtue until either the stone or the seal is broken.
3. n. The steps at the sides of a graving-dock.

Wiktionary

1. n. A table or similar flat-topped structure used for religious rites.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A raised structure (as a square or oblong erection of stone or wood) on which sacrifices are offered or incense burned to a deity.
2. n. In the Christian church, a construction of stone, wood, or other material for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist; the communion table.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the table in Christian churches where communion is given
2. n. a raised structure on which gifts or sacrifices to a god are made