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ciborium

[si-bawr-ee-uh m, -bohr-]
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noun, plural ci·bo·ri·a [si-bawr-ee-uh, -bohr-] /sɪˈbɔr i ə, -ˈboʊr-/.
  1. a permanent canopy placed over an altar; baldachin.
  2. any container designed to hold the consecrated bread or sacred wafers for the Eucharist.
  3. Archaic. a severy.
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Origin of ciborium

1645–55; < Latin: drinking-cup < Greek kibṓrion literally, the seed vessel of the Egyptian lotus, which the cup apparently resembled
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for ciborium

Historical Examples

  • On the right of the entrance is a ciborium by Mino da Fiesole.

    Walks in Rome

    Augustus J.C. Hare

  • The altar was protected by a canopy or ciborium resting on pillars.

  • The altar was wholly of gold, and its ciborium and the iconastasis were of silver.

  • Must the ciborium containing particles to be consecrated, be placed not merely on the corporal, but also on the altar stone?

  • What do you think—are the particles in a ciborium, left by inadvertence, outside the corporal during consecration consecrated?

    My New Curate

    P.A. Sheehan

British Dictionary definitions for ciborium

ciborium

noun plural -ria (-rɪə) Christianity
  1. a goblet-shaped lidded vessel used to hold consecrated wafers in Holy Communion
  2. a freestanding canopy fixed over an altar and supported by four pillars
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Word Origin

C17: from Medieval Latin, from Latin: drinking cup, from Greek kibōrion cup-shaped seed vessel of the Egyptian lotus, hence, a cup
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012