superaltar Eccl.
(ˈs(j)uːpərˌɔːltə(r))
Also 4–6 superaltare, 5–7 -altarie, -y, (5 -altarye, -altori), 6 -alter.
[ad. med.L. superaltāre: see super- 1 d and altar.]
1. A portable stone slab consecrated for use upon an unconsecrated altar, a table, etc. Also attrib.
| c 1380 Antecrist in Todd Three Treat. Wyclif (1851) 146 Þei suspenden men and chirches, boþe auters and super⁓altares. 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 614/35 Superaltare, a superaltarye. c 1475 Pict. Voc. ibid. 753/25 Hoc superaltare, a superaltori. 1493–4 Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1904) 198 For makyng of the crossys on þe superaltarys, iiij d. 1530 Palsgr. 494/2 Thynke you this superaltare is consecrate. 1551 Sir J. Williams Acc. Monastic Treas. (Abbotsf. Club) 24 A superaltare, garnished with siluer and gilte, and parte golde, called the greate saphure of Glasconbury. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 383 They ordeyned a Superaltare of Siluer, and guilt, and therein the storye of Saint Edwarde was grauen most curiously. 1578 in Kempe Losely MSS. (1836) 248 Anie masse bookes, superaltaries, or anie other suche thing belonging to the masse. 1609 E. Hoby Let. to T. H[iggons] 91 Your Schismatical positions, your merits, satisfactions, perfections, supererogations, Masses, Vigils, superaltaries. 1849 Rock Ch. Fathers I. iii. 252 Another super-altar of jasper, circular in shape, and mounted in silver, upon which St. Austin was said to have celebrated, was once in the possession of our great abbey of St. Alban's. 1908 Athenæum 12 Sept. 298/1 No relic was necessary for a side altar or one of occasional use, provided a duly consecrated small portable super-altar stone or slab was used by the celebrant. |
2. A structure erected above an altar (at the back): a. a reredos; b. a retable or gradine.
| 1848 B. Webb Cont. Ecclesiol. 156 There is a stone super⁓altar of twelve small niches, filled by figures. 1858 Direct. Anglic. (ed. J. Purchas) 6 Along the back of the mensa extends a ledge..called the super-Altar; upon it are placed two Lights, and between these a cross of metal. 1860 [W. L. Collins] Luck of Ladysmede I. 151 Here is the great super⁓altar, of the twelve Apostles, in silver tricked out with gold. 1867 Church & State Rev. 16 Feb. 164 He removed a Cross, and a pair of candlesticks, together with the superaltar upon which they were placed. 1870 F. R. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 132 Over the communion table there is a marble super-altar. |