Definitions

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

  • noun The sanctuary or sacristy of a church.
  • noun Piscina.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In ornithology, the complex sacrum of any bird, consisting of dorsolumbar or lumbosacral and of urosacral vertebræ, as well as of sacrals proper.
  • noun In Roman antiquity: Any sacred or consecrated retired place; any place where sacred objects were deposited, as that connected with the Capitoline temple where were kept the processional chariots; sometimes, a locality where a statue of an emperor was placed.
  • noun A sort of family chapel in private houses, in which the images of the Penates were kept.
  • noun That part of a church where the altar is situated; the sanctuary; the chancel.

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

  • noun A sort of family chapel in the houses of the Romans, devoted to a special divinity.
  • noun The adytum of a temple.
  • noun In a Christian church, the sanctuary.

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

  • noun in Ancient Rome A place where sacred objects were kept, either in a temple (the adytum) or in a house (holding the penates)
  • noun The area surrounding the altar of a Christian church; the sanctuary or piscina. Sometimes specifically a drain directly to the earth, perhaps including reference to a basin, for washing vessels from consecration.

Etymologies

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

[Medieval Latin sacrārium, from Latin, shrine, from sacer, sacr-, sacred; see sacred.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin sacrārium.

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