Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A fan-shaped anatomical structure.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A fan, used in the Greek and Armenian churches to drive away insects from the bread and wine during the celebration of the eucharist. Its ordinary use in the Roman Catholic Church ceased as early as the fourteenth century, but survives in the large fans, still known as flabella, carried by the attendants of the pope in processions on certain festivals. Also called flabrum.
- n. In Crustacea, same as epipodite.
- n. In Actinozoa, a genus of aporose madreporarian corals, of the family Turbinoliidæ.
- n. In ichthyology, specifically, same as serrula.
Wiktionary
- n. A large fan used for religious ceremonies.
- n. botany, zoology Any fan-shaped structure.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Eccl.) A fan; especially, the fan carried before the pope on state occasions, made in ostrich and peacock feathers.
Etymologies
- From Latin flābellum "fan". (Wiktionary)
- Latin flābellum, fan, diminutive of flābra, breeze, from flāre, to blow; see bhlē- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“H. monile, Rhipocephalus phoenix, and Udotea flabellum.”
“She flicked open a flabellum made from the stiff white feathers of an extinct peacock and began to fan herself as the Raptor stopped pacing and finally spoke.”
“Ivory handles were usual for the fly-fan, or flabellum, used at the altar, to keep flies and other insects away from the Elements.”
“The richest and most beautiful specimen is the flabellum of the thirteenth century in the Abbey of Kremsmünster in Upper Austria.”
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 6: Fathers of the Church-Gregory XI
“Apart from the foregoing liturgical uses, a flabellum, in the shape of a fan, later of an umbrella or canopy, was used as a mark of honour for bishops and princes.”
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 6: Fathers of the Church-Gregory XI
“The flabellum, in liturgical use, is a fan made of leather, silk, parchment, or feathers intended to keep away insects from the Sacred”
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 6: Fathers of the Church-Gregory XI
“Among the ornaments found belonging to the church of St. Riquier, in Ponthieu (813), there is a silver flabellum”
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 6: Fathers of the Church-Gregory XI
“Lisle, another flabellum of silver is noted in the will of Everard”
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 6: Fathers of the Church-Gregory XI
“The circular disc is also found in the Slavic flabellum of the thirteenth century, preserved at”
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 6: Fathers of the Church-Gregory XI
“France, possessed an old flabellum, which had an ivory handle two feet long, and was beautifully carved; the two sides of the ivory circular disc were engraved with fourteen figures of saints.”
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 6: Fathers of the Church-Gregory XI
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘flabellum’.
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250 Extra Spelling Words
Some more words for intermediate and advanced spellers.
cultellarius, barouche, palanquin, badelaire, cavetto, tregetour, tergiversate, rhododendron, rhadamanthine, thyrsus, cappelletti, bradycardia and 238 more...
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Wordie/Wordnik Curio Cabinet
Oddments culled from my "main" lists that belong in a display cabinet of their own, plus sundry other curiosities. :-)
zeugma, ziggurat, xiphoid, xeric, whizgigging, whangdoodle, viviparous, vivific, vinolent, verjuice, vellicate, velleity and 1193 more...
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Brochettes of Random Palavery
Another of my random palavery lists for words or phrases that haven't yet found a place in one or more of my other lists.
nonexclusivity, adaptationist, paxillin, adduct, unblushingly cribbed, ptomaïne, microsievert, millisievert, too big to jail, tastemaker, tinsmithing, Nimzo-Indian and 1616 more...
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Tools Of God
Religious paraphernalia, ceremonial objects and terms. Not clothing.
crozier, plainsong, mitre, monstrance, ostensorium, menorah, stupa, turba, reliquary, tasbih, rosary, tabernacle and 21 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for flabellum.
reesetee My understanding is that it is not currently used by the pope, although a ceremonial one is on display at the Vatican. :-)
Another meaning: a fan-shaped anatomical structure, such as the one on the fifth legs of horseshoe crabs. Oct 7, 2008
whichbe A fan; especially, the fan carried before the pope on state occasions, made in ostrich and peacock feathers. Oct 7, 2008