Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A shallow bowl or dish, especially one used ceremonially by the ancient Romans in pouring libations.
  • noun A shallow crater on the surface of a solar system body, having an irregular or scalloped rim, caused either by past volcanic activity or by the impact of a much smaller solar system body.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A shallow, circular, saucer-like vessel used by the Romans for pouring libations in sacrificial rites. It corresponds to the Greek phiale.
  • noun In architecture, the representation of a flat round dish in bas-relief, used as an ornament in friezes, etc.
  • noun Patera process. See process.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A saucerlike vessel of earthenware or metal, used by the Greeks and Romans in libations and sacrifices.
  • noun (Arch.) A circular ornament, resembling a dish, often worked in relief on friezes, and the like.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A broad, shallow dish used for drinking, primarily in a ritual context such as a libation.
  • noun architecture A circular ornament, resembling a dish, often worked in relief on friezes etc.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin, perhaps from patina, shallow dish (influenced by crātēra, vessel for mixing wine with water); see paten.]

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Examples

  • The word would have been used in reference to shape only without reference to the vessel's usage, and probably overlapped in meaning with the Latin word patera while at the same time being used to describe shallow bowls as well.

    Etruscan thapna: Check out those flat jugs 2007

  • The word would have been used in reference to shape only without reference to the vessel's usage, and probably overlapped in meaning with the Latin word patera while at the same time being used to describe shallow bowls as well.

    Archive 2007-12-01 2007

  • A sliding door or panel at one end was lifted up -- the body deposited within, on a shelf -- the door reclosed -- a spring a the side touched -- a sudden 'whishing,' sighing sound heard from within; and lo! at the other end of the machine the lid fell down, and a small handful of smouldering dust dropped into a 'patera' placed to receive it.

    The Coming Race Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • It sits between two volcanoes, and while the name "patera" is traditionally given to irregularly shaped volcanic craters, scientists know at least enough about the Orcus Patera to know it wasn't formed by a volcano.

    FOXNews.com 2010

  • The son took up the 'patera' and said (in what I understood afterwards was the usual form of words), "Behold how great is the Maker!

    The Coming Race Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • For the visually inclined, this is a picture of what a prototypical patera looks like:

    Etruscan thapna: Check out those flat jugs 2007

  • Yet, we are told that inscription TLE 30 (mi tafina Lazia Vilianas) is on a black-finish patera (read here and here) .

    Etruscan thapna: Check out those flat jugs 2007

  • For the visually inclined, this is a picture of what a prototypical patera looks like:

    Archive 2007-12-01 2007

  • The scene is represented on a patera from Orvieto, now in the Berlin Museum, reproduced and fully described in “The Art of Horsemanship by Xenophon,” translated, with chapters on the Greek Riding – Horse, and with notes, by Morris H. Morgan, p. 76. 64

    The Cavalry General 2007

  • This is what a 2nd century CE Roman patera looks like. because it's found consistently in libational contexts with direct objects like liquids, jugs, pateras, etc.

    More published errors on Etruscan inscriptions 2007

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