ciborium

[si-bawr-ee-uh m, -bohr-]

noun, plural ci·bo·ri·a

[si-bawr-ee-uh, -bohr-] /sɪˈbɔr i ə, -ˈboʊr-/.

a permanent canopy placed over an altar; baldachin.
any container designed to hold the consecrated bread or sacred wafers for the Eucharist.
Archaic. a severy.

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 of ciborium

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.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4
Various
The altar was wholly of gold, and its ciborium and the iconastasis were of silver.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4
Various
Must the ciborium containing particles to be consecrated, be placed not merely on the corporal, but also on the altar stone?
The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, March 1865
Various
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

a goblet-shaped lidded vessel used to hold consecrated wafers in Holy Communion
a freestanding canopy fixed over an altar and supported by four pillars

Word Origin for ciborium

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