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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

plural

mensas, mensae,

genitive

Mensae

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

• Mensan
  noun

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

In the case of a separation a mensa et thoro alimony was allowed the wife for her support out of her husband's estate at the discretion of the ecclesiastical judges.

From A Short History of Women's Rights From the Days of Augustus to the Present Time. with Special Reference to England and the United States. Second Edition Revised, With Additions. by Hecker, Eugene Arthur

But an answer was afforded by any conduct which would have supported a decree of divorce a mensa et thoro.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 5 "Dinard" to "Dodsworth" by Various

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

When you had obtained a divorce à mensa atque thoro, you would have had to appear by counsel before the House of Lords for a divorce à vinculo matrimonii.

From The Jest Book The Choicest Anecdotes and Sayings by Lemon, Mark

Veniet ergo ab ista parasitica mensa ad hanc regiam et nos in epistulis scribendis adiuvabit.”

From The Student's Companion to Latin Authors by Middleton, George