Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In a Christian church, the top or the consecrated portion of an altar; the altar proper, or mensa.
- noun A name for one of the wooden tables which were substituted for the old altars in England in the seventeenth century, and used for the communion where the old altars had been destroyed by the Roundheads.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Now and then a mouse ventured out of the dark, to feast on the contents of the offering-bowls on the altar-table.
It turns out there was a mouse behind it all AYDIN 2008
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Now and then a mouse ventured out of the dark, to feast on the contents of the offering-bowls on the altar-table.
Archive 2008-04-01 AYDIN 2008
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I dreamed that I was standing inside the communion rails of a church — I on one side of the altar-table, and the clergyman, with his surplice and his prayer-book, on the other.
The Woman in White 2003
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(SB) [68] This altar-table was set up in this doorway because women were not permitted to go farther.
The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary 1774-1824 1954
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Mrs. Griffith, and designed by Scott, projects beyond the altar-table on each side in a way that is unusual and not altogether pleasing.
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Behind two tall candlesticks stood an altar-table which, being unfolded, revealed three compartments, each with a picture, painted by Andrea del Sarto, the once honored guest of Francis.
Under the Rose Frederic Stewart Isham
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It differed from the rest in having the upper end closed in with a neat thatched wall, against which, in time of need, the altar-table may stand, with candles and rough prints or figures of the Virgin and Saints.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 101, March, 1866 Various
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But Jacqueline frowningly noticed that the saint's life lay idle -- conspicuously, though fittingly, on the altar-table -- while a manuscript of the Queen of Navarre suspiciously accompanied the jester when he sought the pleasant nook selected for reading and conversation.
Under the Rose Frederic Stewart Isham
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On her feast day the shrine is placed beside the Communion rail; at other times it is kept within the very beautiful altar-table, made of one piece of pure white marble.
The South of France—East Half C. B. Black
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An altar-table, also of camphor-wood, and painted red, stood in front of the
Under the Dragon Flag My Experiences in the Chino-Japanese War James Allan
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