Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A receptacle to hold the relics of saints; a reliquary.
- n. An area of a church in which reliquaries are kept.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A shrine or bier containing the relics of saints, adapted to be borne in religions processions.
- n. The place in a church where such a shrine is set.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A portable bier or shrine, variously adorned, used for containing relics of saints.
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Anglo-Norman fertre, from Latin feretrum, from Ancient Greek φέρετρον (pheretron), from the verb φέρω (phero, "I carry"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Anglo-Norman fertre, from Latin feretrum, from Greek pheretron, from pherein, to carry; see bher-1 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The feretory no doubt had a reredos at this point, but what the type of this earlier arrangement may have been it is impossible exactly to tell.”
“It was placed just west of the feretory of S. Richard.”
“Rome, having succeeded in persuading Urban IV. that his merits and fame deserved an honour which should bring wealth and celebrity to the see in whose cathedral his body was laid; so in 1276 the remains of his body were removed from their tomb and placed at the back of the high altar in a shrine, or feretory, dedicated to him.”
“This seriously affected Chichester, as the fate of the feretory of S. Richard was involved by the mandate.”
“The entire feretory was overlaid with gold and crusted with gems.”
“William's royal robe, adorned with precious gems, and a feretory in the form of an altar, inclosing 300 relics of the saints, were bequeathed by him to the monastery; and Rufus transmitted them to Battle, where they were duly received on the 8th of the calends of November, 1088.”
“Sir Robert Smirke in 1807 put up work which consisted chiefly of panelling, which was affixed to the easternmost wall of the feretory.”
“Provision had evidently been made by him for keeping relics or treasures here, and, in his time, the back screen, as we now see it, and the reredos, were united together at the top, and covered with heavy stone slabs, so as to make a perfectly secure feretory.”
“The bones were enclosed in a splendid coffer with poles attached, and on solemn occasions this 'feretory,' besides being carried in procession, was sometimes placed under a tent in the fields.”
“The Palm-Sunday procession moved to a tent or chapel at some distance from the church, whither the Blessed Sacrament had been conveyed at daybreak, and returned preceding two priests bearing the Blessed Sacrament in a feretory on their shoulders.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘feretory’.
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phrontistery - f
from phrontistery.info
fustilarian, fusillation, fustian, futurology, fusiform, futurition, fusee, fuscous, fusain, furunculoid, futtock, furibund and 418 more...
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Storage Facilities
bankshall, storehouse, granary, cornhouse, garner, grange, bodega, repository, sceuophylacium, skeuophylakion, bookhouse, reliquary and 100 more...
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A Sequel to 250 Spelling Words
Words to quiz the intermediate and advanced speller alike
sinopia, replevin, lathee, hoisin, kerygma, czardas, amoxicillin, talipes, simoleon, hypermnesia, anodyne, mystique and 238 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Palanquins
A list of litters and those who bear them.
Benjamin Franklin and other wealthy colonial Americans used sedan chairs until late in the 18th century.dooly, palanquin, hamal, litter, stretcher, palankeen, palkee, sedan, cacolet, mule-chair, kujawah, norimono and 39 more...
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Carry Me Home
Another kind of bear list: words bearing the -fer suffix ("that which carries"), the -ferous suffix ("bearing," "producing," or "yielding").
Also see (if you like) Carry Me Home Again.aquifer, conifer, umbellifer, transfer, thurifer, defer, telfer, suffer, rotifer, refer, foraminifer, poriferous and 157 more...
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Story of a Missing "S"
Words that end in -tory. This list is now in retirement and nothing you say will make me add to it. You owe many thanks to sionnach, reesetee, and oroboros for its untimely demise. It was fun while...
obligatory, purgatory, mandatory, moratory, crematory, sanatory, perfunctory, factory, liberatory, laboratory, inventory, nugatory and 46 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for feretory.
reesetee A portable or stationary shrine, often made of or adorned with costly materials, in which were deposited the remains or relics of saints; a tomb. Feb 8, 2008