Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In the Gr. Ch., a long bar or piece of wood or metal struck with a mallet, and used instead of a bell to summon worshipers to service.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A percussion instrument used chiefly in Eastern Orthodox monasteries to summon the brethren to prayer or to lead processions.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek σήμαντρον (semantron, "a seal, signet, in MGr. a semantron"), from σημαίνειν (semainein, "to show by a sign, signify, in MGr. strike a semantron"), from σῆμα (sema, "mark, sign").

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