Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In English churches, a pew from which to read part of the service; especially, after the Reformation, an inclosure in the body of a church, with a door, seat, and desk or desks, used instead of the older and later form of reading-desk or stalls.
Etymologies
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Examples
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To church, and there saw the first time Mr. Mills in a surplice; but it seemed absurd for him to pull it over his ears in the reading-pew, after he had done, before all the church, to go up to the pulpitt, to preach without it.
Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete Samuel Pepys 1668
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To church, and there saw the first time Mr. Mills in a surplice; but it seemed absurd for him to pull it over his ears in the reading-pew, after he had done, before all the church, to go up to the pulpitt, to preach without it.
Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1662 N.S. Samuel Pepys 1668
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To church, and there saw the first time Mr. Mills in a surplice; but it seemed absurd for him to pull it over his ears in the reading-pew, after he had done, before all the church, to go up to the pulpitt, to preach without it.
Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 18: September/October 1662 Samuel Pepys 1668
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To church, and there saw the first time Mr. Mills in a surplice; but it seemed absurd for him to pull it over his ears in the reading-pew, after he had done, before all the church, to go up to the pulpitt, to preach without it.
The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Sep/Oct 1662 Pepys, Samuel 1662
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From about the period of the Revolution, in 1688, we may trace the commencement of a custom, still partially prevailing, of setting up the pulpit and reading-pew in the middle aisle, in front of the communion table; so that during the whole of the service the back of the minister was turned to the east, and the view of the communion table obstructed; but we have not found any pulpit thus placed of an earlier period.
The Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture, Elucidated by Question and Answer, 4th ed. Matthew Holbeche Bloxam 1846
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"When the public talking day came," says he, "I took the reading-pew, and Pitchford's cornet and troopers took the gallery.
Old Portraits, Part 1, from Volume VI., The Works of Whittier: Old Portraits and Modern Sketches John Greenleaf Whittier 1849
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"When the public talking day came," says he, "I took the reading-pew, and Pitchford's cornet and troopers took the gallery.
Old Portraits, Modern Sketches, Personal Sketches and Tributes Complete, Volume VI., the Works of Whittier John Greenleaf Whittier 1849
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"When the public talking day came," says he, "I took the reading-pew, and Pitchford's cornet and troopers took the gallery.
The Complete Works of Whittier John Greenleaf Whittier 1849
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