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• mensa
  mensa

  noun

  the flat stone forming the top of the altar in a Roman Catholic church.
• Mensa
  Mensa

  noun

  an international fellowship organization for people with IQ's in the top 2 percent of the general population.

mensa

¹ American  

[men-suh] / ˈmɛn sə /

noun

mensas, plural mensae plural

1. Also called altar stone.  Also called altar slab,.  the flat stone forming the top of the altar in a Roman Catholic church.

2. (initial capital letter) the Table, a southern constellation near Octans.

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Mensa ² American  

[men-suh] / ˈmɛn sə /

noun

1. an international fellowship organization for people with IQ's in the top 2 percent of the general population.

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Mensa ¹ British  

/ ˈmɛnsə /

noun

1. a faint constellation in the S hemisphere lying between Hydrus and Volans and containing part of the Large Magellanic Cloud

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Mensa ² British  

/ ˈmɛnsə /

noun

1. an international society, membership of which is restricted to people whose intelligence test scores exceed those expected of 98 per cent of the population

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Mensan
  noun

Inflected Forms

noun

• mensae
  plural
• mensas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of mensa¹

First recorded in 1685–95; from Latin mēnsa “table”

Origin of Mensa²

From the Latin word mēnsa table, symbolizing the original conception of the society, “a round table where no one has precedence”

Example Sentences

Ab eadem parte epistolae ... ampullae vitreae vini et aquae, cum pelvicula et manutergio mundo in fenestella, seu in parva mensa ad haec praeparata.

From The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, November 1864 by

Thanks to the latter, Johannes found bed and board, mensa splendida et delicata at the provost's of the chapter, a great personage occupying the handsomest mansion of Spires, the habitual quarters of the Emperor.

From Bartholomew Sastrow Being the Memoirs of a German Burgomaster by Sastrow, Bartholomew

This "separation" is really the direct descendant of the Canon law divorce a mensa et thoro, and the inability to marry which it involves is merely a survival of the Canon law tradition.

From Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 6 Sex in Relation to Society by Ellis, Havelock

So he pulled out two three-legged stools, and very soon I was trying to fix my wandering wits and decline mensa.

From Noughts and Crosses Stories, Studies and Sketches by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir

Don't mensa, mensam me when I am talking most seriously to you!

From Clementina by Mason, A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley)