Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Rood \Rood\ (r[=oo]d), n. [AS. r[=o]d a cross; akin to OS. r[=o]da, D. roede rod, G. ruthe, rute, OHG. ruota. Cf. Rod a measure.]
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A representation in sculpture or in painting of the cross with Christ hanging on it.
Note: Generally, the Trinity is represented, the Father as an elderly man fully clothed, with a nimbus around his head, and holding the cross on which the Son is represented as crucified, the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove near the Son's head. Figures of the Virgin Mary and of St. John are often placed near the principal figures.
Savior, in thine image seen Bleeding on that precious rood.
--Wordsworth. A measure of five and a half yards in length; a rod; a perch; a pole. [Prov. Eng.]
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The fourth part of an acre, or forty square rods.
By the rood, by the cross; -- a phrase formerly used in swearing. ``No, by the rood, not so.''
--Shak.Rood beam (Arch.), a beam across the chancel of a church, supporting the rood.
Rood loft (Arch.), a loft or gallery, in a church, on which the rood and its appendages were set up to view.
--Gwilt.Rood screen (Arch.), a screen, between the choir and the body of the church, over which the rood was placed.
--Fairholt.Rood tower (Arch.), a tower at the intersection of the nave and transept of a church; -- when crowned with a spire it was called also rood steeple.
--Weale.Rood tree, the cross. [Obs.] ``Died upon the rood tree.''
--Gower.
Wiktionary
n. (context architecture English) A carved screen that separated the chancel and nave in a medieval church; it originally carried a large crucifix
WordNet
n. a screen in a church; separates the nave from the choir or chancel
Wikipedia
The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jube) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, or wrought iron. The rood screen would originally have been surmounted by a rood loft carrying the Great Rood, a sculptural representation of the Crucifixion. In English, Scots, and Welsh cathedral, monastic, and collegiate churches, there were commonly two transverse screens, with a rood screen or rood beam located one bay west of the pulpitum screen, but this double arrangement nowhere survives complete, and accordingly the preserved pulpitum in such churches is sometimes referred to as a rood screen. At Wells Cathedral the medieval arrangement was restored in the 20th century, with the medieval strainer arch supporting a rood, placed in front of the pulpitum and organ.
Rood screens can be found in churches in many parts of Europe: the German word for one is Lettner; the French jubé; the Italian tramezzo; and the Dutch doksaal. However, in Catholic countries they were generally removed during the Counter-reformation, when the retention of any visual barrier between the laity and the high altar was widely seen as inconsistent with the decrees of the Council of Trent. Accordingly, rood screens now survive in much greater numbers in Anglican and Lutheran churches; with the greatest number of survivals complete with screen and rood figures in Scandinavia. The iconostasis in Eastern Christian churches is a visually similar barrier, but is now generally considered to have a different origin, deriving from the ancient altar screen or templon.
Usage examples of "rood screen".
They crossed the second chapel, venturing as close to the rood screen as they dared, to peer up the rest of the nave and scan the north chapels before venturing further into the open for the breaching of the screen itself.
He was on his knees in front of the rood screen, his big hands folded together in prayer.
He went to get them immediately, and while he was gone, she hastily took the candles down from the rood screen and replaced them with tallow ones.
Joanne had undergone a violent flogging session, sex and pain at the rood screen as best she could and had stood up to it.
There was a little light on the altar and another one on the rood screen.
There were ashes and fragments of bone near the altar, where the rood screen had been, and blasphemous, incoherent graffiti scrawled over the walls.
No rood screen separated choir from nave in this monastic church, so his view was unobstructed all the way to the great western doors and the graceful rose window above, done in rich azures and golds.
It strikes us as strange, and rather admirable, that there should be no signature on a beautiful rood screen or statue of the virgin and child.
Then he stared in turn at the roof, the great West window and the rood screen, as if debating which one of those obstacles he would ask the vicar to have removed.