tabernacle
tabernacle Lexical Profile
tabernacle Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A portable dwelling or sanctuary of curtains and wooden frames carried by the ancient Israelites through the wilderness as a place of worship and housing for the Ark of the Covenant.
"According to the Book of Exodus, Moses oversaw the construction of the portable tabernacle in the desert."
An ornamented, locked receptacle placed on or behind an altar in a Christian church to hold the consecrated Eucharist.
"The priest unlocked the gilded tabernacle on the high altar to retrieve the consecrated hosts."
A large meeting house or place of worship, especially one belonging to a Nonconformist, Baptist, Methodist, or Mormon congregation.
"Thousands of worshippers gathered inside the historic tabernacle for the annual choir performance."
A three-sided socket or upright post fixed on the deck of a sailboat to support the foot of a mast so that it can be easily lowered.
"Before passing under the low stone bridge, the crew unpinned the mast from its tabernacle and lowered it onto the deck."
• verb
To dwell or reside temporarily, as in a tent or makeshift shelter (chiefly literary or theological).
"The theological treatise describes how the divine spirit tabernacled among humanity."
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Old French tabernacle, from Latin tabernāculum ('tent'), a diminutive of taberna ('hut, booth, tavern'). In the Latin Vulgate Bible, it translated the Hebrew mishkan ('dwelling place') for the portable sanctuary of the Israelites.