The Collaborative International Dictionary
Altar \Al"tar\, n. [OE. alter, auter, autier, fr. L. altare, pl. altaria, altar, prob. fr. altus high: cf. OF. alter, autier, F. autel. Cf. Altitude.]
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A raised structure (as a square or oblong erection of stone or wood) on which sacrifices are offered or incense burned to a deity.
Noah builded an altar unto the Lord.
--Gen. viii. 20. -
In the Christian church, a construction of stone, wood, or other material for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist; the communion table.
Note: Altar is much used adjectively, or as the first part of a compound; as, altar bread or altar-bread.
Altar cloth or
Altar-cloth, the cover for an altar in a Christian church, usually richly embroidered.
Altar cushion, a cushion laid upon the altar in a Christian church to support the service book.
Altar frontal. See Frontal.
Altar rail, the railing in front of the altar or communion table.
Altar screen, a wall or partition built behind an altar to protect it from approach in the rear.
Altar tomb, a tomb resembling an altar in shape, etc.
Family altar, place of family devotions.
To lead (as a bride) to the altar, to marry; -- said of a woman.
Usage examples of "family altar".
A few steps carried them to the rear of the approach, past the family altar.
He had also interested Cardinal Piccolomini in employing Michelangelo to carve the figures needed to complete the family altar honoring his uncle Pope Pius II, in the cathedral in Siena.
Whether or not any word of his life and service ever reached the patres conscripti who were as much an object of his grandsire's veneration as the family altar, or that turbulent, brawling people who had transformed the lands around the Tiber, once again, he had that sense of purpose.
The only thing that seemed to worry him in the rest of the house were the saints on the family altar, which he burned down to ashes one afternoon in a bonfire he lighted in the courtyard.
He sank down to sit cross-legged before the family altar, sucking at his cut finger, and flipping the tiny two-inch knife over and over in his hand.
Then she made a gcsture with one hand and bowed her head towards the family altar over the fireplace.
They put the ashes on the family altar and knelt before little gray ribbons of incense smoke.
In it stood the family altar, the ranked busts and portraits of Shibari's ancestors, the canopied great-couch from which the master and his wife dined on such formal occasions as their wedding feast or the first-blessings of their newborn children.