cancellus

American  

[kan-sel-uhs] / kænˈsɛl əs /

noun

Architecture.

• cancelli
  plural

1. (in an early Christian basilica) one of a row of bars separating the clergy and sometimes the choir from the congregation.

2. (in an ancient Roman basilica) one of a row of bars separating the court personnel from the spectators.

3. cancelli, a screen of such bars.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cancelli
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cancellus

< Latin, equivalent to canc ( rī ) grating (plural of cancer, apparently dissimilated form of carcer prison) + -ellus diminutive suffix

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cancellus cancelli

Chancel is derived, through Fr. chancel or cancel, from Lat. cancellus, a cross-bar, occurring more usually in the plural in the sense of lattice, grating.

From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Ernest Weekley

The cancelli, the lattice or bar, which in the civil tribunal had divided the court from the litigants and the public, now served to separate clergy and laity.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 3 "Chitral" to "Cincinnati" by Various

When he took her extended hands, she led him to the light of the cancelli and inspected him.

From Saul of Tarsus A Tale of the Early Christians by Elizabeth Miller

Caries of Articular Surfaces.—Tuberculous infiltration of the marrow in the surface cancelli breaks up the spongy framework of the bone into minute irregular fragments, so that it disintegrates or crumbles away—caries.

From Manual of Surgery Volume First: General Surgery. Sixth Edition. by Alexis Thomson

It is hard to say whether by the Latin word cancelli is meant the chancel-screen or the altar-rails, in some cases probably the latter.

From The Church Handy Dictionary by Anonymous

The ordinary screen or cancelli, from which is derived our word "chancel" for the space thus enclosed, was a low wall.

From The Ground Plan of the English Parish Church by A. Hamilton (Alexander Hamilton) Thompson