Wiktionary
n. A title warranting great respect, prefixed to the names of Tibetan Buddhist
Wikipedia
Rinpoche, also spelled Rimboche and Rinboqê , is an honorific term used in the Tibetan language. It literally means "precious one", and may be used to refer to a person, place, or thing--like the words "gem" or "jewel" (Sanskrit Ratna).
The word is used in the context of Tibetan Buddhism as a way of showing respect when addressing those recognized as reincarnated, older, respected, notable, learned and/or an accomplished Lamas or teachers of the Dharma. It is also used as an honorific for abbots of monasteries.
Usage examples of "rinpoche".
Voice of the Rinpoche of Sorel sometimes looked out on the sea, sometimes on the broad avenues of Paris or Abouta, or on the many other places the Institut monitored.
It had been so unlike the Rinpoche she had served, and loved, for fifteen years.
The woman was a parlant: she was transmitting to the Rinpoche all she witnessed, and he controlled all she said and did, when he chose.
Something the Rinpoche had done -- she was not even sure what -- had set her off, and she had cried uncontrollably for two hours.
The Lama, or Rinpoche, is busy listening to a five-band Sony shortwave radio.
Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche pointed out in Shambhala that the essential and background idea pervading all of the philosophies of the East, from India to Tibet to China, lying behind everything from Shintoism to Taoism, is "a hierarchy of earth, human, heaven," which he also pointed out is equivalent to "body, mind, spirit.