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definitions

Middle Temple

noun
  1. See under Inns of Court(def 1).
  2. See under temple1(def 10).

Origin of Middle Temple

First recorded in 1595–1605

Inns of Court

plural noun
  1. the four voluntary legal societies in England (Lincoln's Inn, the Inner Temple, the Middle Temple, and Gray's Inn) that have the exclusive privilege of calling candidates to the English bar after they have received such instruction and taken such examinations as the Inns provide.
  2. the buildings owned and used by the Inns.

temple

1
[tem-puh l]
noun
  1. an edifice or place dedicated to the service or worship of a deity or deities.
  2. (usually initial capital letter) any of the three successive houses of worship in Jerusalem in use by the Jews in Biblical times, the first built by Solomon, the second by Zerubbabel, and the third by Herod.
  3. a synagogue, usually a Reform or Conservative one.
  4. an edifice erected as a place of public worship; a church, especially a large or imposing one.
  5. any place or object in which God dwells, as the body of a Christian. I Cor. 6:19.
  6. (in France) a Protestant church.
  7. (in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) a building devoted to administering sacred ordinances, principally that of eternal marriage.
  8. a building, usually large or pretentious, devoted to some public use: a temple of music.
  9. (initial capital letter) either of two establishments of the medieval Templars, one in London and the other in Paris.
  10. (initial capital letter) either of two groups of buildings (Inner Temple and Middle Temple) on the site of the Templars' former establishment in London, occupied by two of the Inns of Court.
  11. a building used by the Templars in the U.S.
  12. a building used by any of various fraternal orders.

Origin of temple

1
before 900; Middle English, variant of tempel, Old English < Latin templum space demarcated by an augur for taking auspices, temple
Related formstem·pled, adjectivetem·ple·like, adjectiveun·tem·pled, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for middle temple

Inns of Court

pl n
  1. (in England) the four private unincorporated societies in London that function as a law school and have the exclusive privilege of calling candidates to the English barSee Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple, Middle Temple, Gray's Inn

temple

1
noun
  1. a building or place dedicated to the worship of a deity or deities
  2. a Mormon church
  3. US another name for a synagogue
  4. any Christian church, esp a large or imposing one
  5. any place or object regarded as a shrine where God makes himself present, esp the body of a person who has been sanctified or saved by grace
  6. a building regarded as the focus of an activity, interest, or practicea temple of the arts
Derived Formstempled, adjectivetemple-like, adjective

Word Origin for temple

Old English tempel, from Latin templum; probably related to Latin tempus time, Greek temenos sacred enclosure, literally: a place cut off, from temnein to cut

temple

2
noun
  1. the region on each side of the head in front of the ear and above the cheek boneRelated adjective: temporal

Word Origin for temple

C14: from Old French temple, from Latin tempora the temples, from tempus temple of the head

temple

3
noun
  1. the part of a loom that keeps the cloth being woven stretched to the correct width

Word Origin for temple

C15: from French, from Latin templum a small timber

Temple

1
noun
  1. either of two buildings in London and Paris that belonged to the Templars. The one in London now houses two of the chief law societies
  2. any of three buildings or groups of buildings erected by the Jews in ancient Jerusalem for the worship of Jehovah

Temple

2
noun
  1. Shirley, married name Shirley Temple Black. born 1928, US film actress and politician. Her films as a child star include Little Miss Marker (1934), Wee Willie Winkie (1937), and Heidi (1937). She was US ambassador to Ghana (1974–76) and to Czechoslovakia (1989–92)
  2. Sir William. 1628–99, English diplomat and essayist. He negotiated the Triple Alliance (1668) and the marriage of William of Orange to Mary II
  3. William. 1881–1944, English prelate and advocate of social reform; archbishop of Canterbury (1942–44)

Middle Temple

noun
  1. (in England) one of the four legal societies in London which together form the Inns of Court
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
Word Origin and History for middle temple

temple

n.1

"building for worship," Old English tempel, from Latin templum "piece of ground consecrated for the taking of auspices, building for worship," of uncertain signification. Commonly referred either to PIE root *tem- "to cut," on notion of "place reserved or cut out," or to PIE root *temp- "to stretch," on notion of cleared space in front of an altar. Figurative sense of "any place regarded as occupied by divine presence" was in Old English. Applied to Jewish synagogues from 1590s.

temple

n.2

"side of the forehead," early 14c., from Old French temple "side of the forehead" (11c.), from Vulgar Latin *tempula (feminine singular), from Latin tempora, plural of tempus (genitive temporis) "side of the forehead," probably originally "the thin stretch of skin at the side of the forehead." Possibly associated with tempus span "timely space (for a mortal blow with a sword)," or from the notion of "stretched, thinnest part," which is the sense of cognate Old English ðunwange, literally "thin cheek."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
middle temple in Medicine

temple

[tĕm′pəl]
n.
  1. The flat region on either side of the forehead.
  2. Either of the sidepieces of a frame for eyeglasses that extends along the temple and over the ear.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
middle temple in Culture

Temple

The central place of worship for the Israelites. The first Temple was built in Jerusalem (see also Jerusalem) by King Solomon. The stone tablets received by Moses on Mount Sinai — tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written — were kept in the central chamber of Solomon's Temple. Solomon's Temple was later destroyed, as were two succeeding temples built on the site.

Note

A wall remaining from the temples, known as the Western Wall, is one of the most sacred places for Jews (see also Jews) today.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.