faldstool

American  

[fawld-stool] / ˈfɔldˌstul /

noun

1. a chair or seat, originally one capable of being folded, used by a bishop or other prelate when officiating in his own church away from his throne or in a church not his own.

2. a movable folding stool or desk at which worshipers kneel during certain acts of devotion.

3. such a stool placed at the south side of the altar, at which the kings or queens of England kneel at their coronation.

4. a desk at which the litany is said or sung.

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faldstool British  

/ ˈfɔːldˌstuːl /

noun

1. a backless seat, sometimes capable of being folded, used by bishops and certain other prelates

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Etymology

Origin of faldstool

1595–1605; < Medieval Latin faldistolium < West Germanic *faldistōl (compare Old High German faltistuol, late Old English fældestōl, fyldestōl ); see fold ¹, stool; cf. fauteuil

Example Sentences

At a faldstool on the left of the altar, the Queen knelt and prayed alone.

From Time Magazine Archive

Here she knelt down on a faldstool set for her before her chair, and used some private prayers.

From Life of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen — Volume 1 by Tytler, Sarah

Its age has been much discussed, but Viollet-le-Duc dated it to early Merovingian times, and it may in any case be taken as the oldest faldstool in existence.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 7 "Cerargyrite" to "Charing Cross" by Various

Medieval Latin constructed the compound faldestolium, whence our ecclesiastical faldstool, a litany desk.

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

He set this up in his chamber over a faldstool, and said three Paters and nine Aves before it daily.

From The Forest Lovers by Hewlett, Maurice Henry