altar
(ˈɔːltə(r))
Forms: 1 altar, 1–6 alter, 3–6 auter, 3–7 aulter, 4 altere, awtiere, awteer, 4–5 awtier, 4–6 awter, autere, 5 autir, auuter, awtare, (nawtyr), 5–6 aughter, 6 autre, awlter, alterr(e, -are, aultar, 6–7 altar.
[a. L. altāre, pl. altāri-a, prob. orig. a ‘high place,’ f. alt-us high. With OE. altar, cf. OS., OHG. and ON. altari, alteri, OFris. altare, alter. Side by side with the OE. form, the OFr. auˈter (earlier autier, aultier, altier:—L. altāre) was adopted a 1300, and both forms, with many intermediate ones, continued to 16th c., when the spelling altar, after L., prevailed.]
A. 1. a. A block, pile, table, stand, or other raised structure, with a plane top, on which to place or sacrifice offerings to a deity.
| c 1000 ælfric Matt. v. 23 Læt þær þine lác beforan þam altare [v.r. wefode, Lindisf. G. wiᵹbed, Hatt. weofede]. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 135 Ðe holi man sah þe heȝ engel atte alteres ende. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1325 Ysaac was leid ðat auter on. 1366 Mandeville iii. 16 There is an Awtier upon his Toumbe. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 250 From under thalter sodeinly An hideous serpent openly Cam out. 1535 Coverdale Ex. xxxviii. 1 The altare of burnt offrynges. ― 1 Macc. iv. 49 The aulter of incense. 1611 Bible Gen. viii. 20 And Noah builded an Altar vnto the Lord. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 323 So many grateful Altars I would reare Of grassie Terfe. 1772 Pennant Tours in Scotl. (1774) 180 An altar for sacrifices to the immortal gods. 1821 Byron Cain i. i, I will build no more altars. |
b. fig. with reference to the uses, customs, dedication, or peculiar sanctity of the altar.
| 1401 Pol. Poems (1859) II. 42 Datan and Abiron..with newe senceres ensencen the auters of synne. 1580 Sidney Arcadia i. 82 Where thoughts be the temple, sight is an aultar. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 116 You vnciuill Ladie To whose ingrate, and vnauspicious Altars My soule the faithfull'st offrings haue breath'd out. 1635 Howell Lett. (1650) II. 41 Farewell my dear Tom..Yours to the altar, J.H. 1775 Burke Sp. Conc. Amer. Wks. III. 94 The stones which construct the sacred altar of peace. 1857 Heavysege Saul (1869) 381 The stars shall sooner fall Each from its sacred altar in the heavens. |
2. a. In those Christian Churches which celebrate the eucharist or communion service as a sacrifice, the raised structure consecrated to this celebration.
(
High Altar, the chief altar in a cathedral or church.)
| c 1200 Ormin 1061 Att te minnstredure wass An allterr þær wiþþutenn. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 593 He herkneȝ his masse, Offred & honoured at þe heȝe auter. 1366 Mandeville x. 112 A gret Awteer of a faire Chirche. a 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 381, I in the sacrament Of the autére fully beleve. c 1440 Gesta Rom. 261 The body of Crist liyng vpon the awter. a 1500 Nominale in Wright Voc. 230/2 Hoc altare, a nawtyr. 1553–87 Foxe A. & M. I. 456/2 Priests to offren in the auter thy flesh and thy blood. 1692 Washington tr. Milton's Def. Pop. ii. (1851) 68 He compell'd them to set up Altars, which all Protestants abhor. 1826 Scott Woodst. (1832) 175 The high altar had been removed. |
b. As applied to the ‘holy table’ of the English Prayer-book, which occupies the place of the altars removed after the Reformation.
[In the Prayer Book of 1549
altar occurs side by side with ‘God's board, Lord's table, Holy table,’ the two latter of which at length displaced it in authoritative use (
exc. in the Coronation Service). The word was the subject of much controversy in 17th c. In common parlance it is now used to a great extent indifferently with ‘Communion-table’ (Lord's table, Holy table) sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively; but controversially, one or the other is used according to the doctrine of the Eucharist held or sought to be emphasized.]
| 1549 1st Prayer Bk. Edw. VI (1852) 298 These wordes before rehersed are to be saied, turning still to the Altar, without any eleuacion or shewing the sacrament to the people. [Also called p. 266 Lord's Table, p. 302 God's Board, and p. 273 Holy Table.] 1625 Laud Diary Wks. (1853) III. 181, I returned and offered them [the regalia] solemnly at the altar in the name of the king. a 1626 Bp. Andrewes Answ. Cdl. Perron 6 The Holy Eucharist being considered as a Sacrifice, the same is fitly called an altar: which again is as fitly called a Table, the Eucharist being considered as a Sacrament. 1635 Brereton Trav. (1844) 82 It was not to be accounted an altar but the communion-table. 1637 Laud Sp. in Star-Ch. 14 June 54 The placing of the Holy Table Altarwise (since they will needs call it so). a 1638 Mede Wks. ii. 386 [Marg. title] Of the name Altar anciently given to the Holy Table. 1641 F. Greville Episc. 18 Placing the Communion Table Altar-wise, Railing it in, Bowing to it, etc. 1641–74 Clarendon Hist. Reb. I. i. (1843) 39/1 [anno 1635] Those Disputes brought in new words, and terms (Altar, Adoration, and Genuflexion, and other expressions). 1660 Stillingfleet Irenicum i. ii. (1662) 66 The Altar, as they metaphorically called the Communion-Table. 1742 Bailey Dict. s.v., The Christians call the Communion Table their Altar, because they offer up thereon a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving, in Memory of the Death and Passion of Jesus Christ. 1791 Boswell Johnson (1831) I. 484 We went and looked at the church..and walked up to the altar. 1831 Eng. Coron. Service, Then the Archbishop takes the sword from off the altar, and..saith:—Receive this kingly sword brought now from the altar of God. 1883 Daily News 27 Mar. 7/2 Disturbing the congregation of St. Paul's Cathedral..[and] breaking certain ornaments on the altar. |
c. In
phr. ‘
to lead a bride to the altar,’ as the place at which the marriage service in a church is concluded; whence ‘hymeneal altar.’
| 1820 Combe (Dr. Syntax) Consolation vi. 236 The indissoluble tie Which hallow'd Altars sanctify. a 1842 Tennyson Ld. of Burleigh 11 Leads her to the village altar. 1883 Daily News 9 Mar. 3/2 Mr. ― is about to lead to the hymeneal altar a charming young lady now resident in Paris. |
3. fig. A place consecrated to devotional observances.
family altar: the place or scene of family devotions.
| 1693 O. Heywood (title) The Family Altar, erected to the honour of the Eternal God. |
4. A metrical address or dedication, fancifully written or printed in the form of an altar.
arch.| 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) II. 120 As for Altars and Pyramids in Poetry, he has outdone all Men. 1682 Dryden Mac Fleckn. 206 Some peaceful province in Acrostic land, Where thou may'st wings display, and altars raise. |
5. A southern constellation, also called
Ara.
| 1556 Recorde Cast. Knowl. 270 Vnder the Scorpions tayle, standeth the Altar. 1868 Lockyer Heavens (ed. 3) 334 The Altar and the Southern Triangle..bring us back to Argo. |
6. Each of the steps or ledges up the sloping sides of a graving-dock. [Suggested by
altar-step: see B. II.]
| 1840 Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. III. 27/2 The object of these altars is for the convenience of placing the shores against the hull of a vessel at any height, and for resting the ends of spars for staging. 1885 L. F. Vernon-Harcourt Harbours & Docks I. 457 The sides of a graving dock..are constructed with steps, or altars, for receiving the timber props which support the vessel in an upright position. |
B. altar- in
comb. I. General syntactic relations.
1. obj. gen. with
n. of agent or action, as
altar-adorer,
altar-building,
altar-worship.
| 1641 in Rushworth Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 553 A notable Arminian and an Altar-adorer. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-cr. iv. 231 Cold Formality, and Altar-Worship. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. iii. 256 Were this an altar-building time. |
2. instr. &
locative with
pa. pple., as
altar-vowed.
| 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) II. 72 Some new breach of an altar-vowed duty. |
3. attrib. Of or belonging to an altar or its appurtenances, as
altar-cross,
altar-pile,
altar-place,
altar-side,
altar-top;
altar-cloth, -piece, -stone; and most of those in II.
| 1816 Byron Darkness 58 The dying embers of an altar-place. 1871 F. T. Palgrave Lyr. Poems 34 From the altar-top Strewing her golden hair with ashes hoar. |
4. attrib. Of or connected with the use of an altar, as
altar-boy,
altar-god,
altar-servant,
altar-service,
altar-taper;
altar-bread,
-thane.
| 1552–5 Latimer Serm. & Rem. (1845) 260 Their white idol (I should have said their altar-god). 1610 Healey St. Aug., City of God 281 The altar-servant, or sacrificer. 1772 Hist. Friar Gerund I. 150 Idiots who are not fit to be made altar-boys. 1860 G. M. Hopkins Escorial in Poems (1930) 129 The Altar-tapers flar'd in gusts. |
II. Special combinations (with quotations in alphabetical order).
altar-bread, the bread used in celebrating the Communion;
altar-card, any of a set of three cards placed on the altar (one in the middle, and one at either end), containing certain portions of the Eucharistic prayers to assist the priest's memory;
altar-fire, the fire on an altar,
fig. religious rite;
altar-front,
-frontal,
-facing, a movable frame, or a hanging of silk, etc., placed in front of an altar, the
antependium;
altar-plate, the plate used in the communion service;
altar-pyx, a pyx or box for holding the consecrated elements;
altar-rails, the rails separating the sacrarium from the rest of the chancel;
altar-screen, the reredos wall or screen at the back of a (church-) altar;
altar-slab, the slab forming the top of an altar;
altar-stair, a flight of steps ascending to an altar;
altar-stead, the place where an altar stands;
altar-step, a step ascending to an altar;
altar-table (
= altar-slab);
† altar-thane, the priest serving an altar, a mass-priest;
altar-tomb, a raised monument resembling a solid altar;
altar-ways (
= altarwise).
| 1849 Rock Ch. Fathers I. ii. 144 *Altar-Bread was unleavened. |
| Ibid. 149 Irons for baking *Altar-Breads. |
| 1849 T. Grant Let. 4 July in ‘G. Ramsay’ Thomas Grant (1874) v. 85 A subscription for publishing on stone a set of illuminated *altar cards. 1884 Addis & Arnold Cath. Dict. s.v. Altar, Under the crucifix there ought to be an altar-card, with certain prayers which the priest cannot read from the Missal without inconvenience. 1905 Church Times 30 June 842/2 A ‘wooden altar card’ of the 18th century. It is a thick wooden panel, about 2 ft. by 18 in., painted to imitate a book, bearing the words, ‘The Lord Jesus after He was betrayed,’ etc., from the prayer of Consecration in the English liturgy; it stood on the altar of Redbourn Church, Herts, until about 1850. |
| 1850 Tennyson In Mem. xli. 3 Mounts the heavenward *altar-fire. |
| 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. III. xxxvii. 129 To Daniel the words Father, Mother had the *altar-fire in them. |
| 1566 in Eng. Ch. Furn. (1866) 56 Item an *altar ffront sold to Sir Richard thoryld. |
| 1867 M. E. Herbert Cradle L. iii. 80 A beautiful silver *altar-front. |
| 1859 Gullick & Timbs Paint. 308 A more important class of panel picture—viz. the *altar-frontals or antependia. These *altar-facings were moveable. |
| 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. III. ii. xiii, The desecration of the abbey-chapels and *altar-plate. |
| a 1683 Oldham Wks. 1697, 79 (Jod.) Yon *altar-pyx of gold is the abode, And safe repository of their god. |
| 1860 W. Clark Vac. Tour 53 An aged priest, standing within the *altar rails. |
| 1866 Peacock Eng. Ch. Furn. 21 The *altar-slabs thus used as fire-backs and bridges. |
| 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh iv. 802 The topmost *altar-stair. |
| 1868 Morris Earthly Par. I. 94 Hung up as relics nigh the *altar-stead. |
| 1846 Keble Lyra Innoc. (1873) 7 With pure heart to fall Before His *Altar-step. |
| 1566 in Eng. Ch. Furn. (1866) 42 On *alter table broken by Mr. Vycar. |
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., *Altar-thane in our ancient law-books, denotes a priest or parson of a parish. |
| 1739 F. Blomefield Hist. Norfolk I. 227 Under this, is an *Altar-Tomb cover'd with a Black Marble. 1769 Gray Let. in Wks. (1775) 368 There is an altar-tomb of one of them dated 1577. 1879 G. Scott Lect. Archit. I. 180 The marble altar-tomb of Queen Eleanor. |
| 1641 in Burton Diary (1828) III. 89 Caused the Communion-Table..to be removed, and set *altar-ways. |