Penates
plural noun
gods who watched over the home or community to which they belonged: originally, two deities of the storeroom.
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Penates
American
[puh-ney-teez, -nah-]
/ pəˈneɪ tiz, -ˈnɑ- /
Or
penates
plural noun
Roman Religion.
penates
British
/ pəˈnɑːtiːz /
plural noun
Etymology
Origin of Penates
1505–15; < Latin Penātēs, akin to penus stock of provisions
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Every Roman family had a Lar, who was the spirit of an ancestor, and several Penates, gods of the hearth and guardians of the storehouse.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
The most prominent and revered of them all were the Lares and Penates.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
There were also public Lares and Penates, who did for the city what the others did for the family.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Making all allowance for the removal of the Penates of its late occupants, it is still obvious that these two luxurious wrens occupied but a small portion of this eagle's nest.
From From the Oak to the Olive A Plain record of a Pleasant Journey by Julia Ward Howe
Among the Romans, Vesta was not the only goddess invoked on the family hearth, for she shared that place of honor with the Lares, Manes, and Penates, who all enjoyed special veneration and sacrifices.
From Myths of Greece and Rome Narrated with Special Reference to Literature and Art by H. A. (H?l?ne Adeline) Guerber
In addition, the penates, figurines of household gods, were put on the dining table during meals and worshipped as protectors of the home.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
Her lares and penates range from Ella Fitzgerald to Frank Sinatra and Peggy Lee.
From Time Magazine Archive
“The household gods correspond better with the genii locorum than with the lares or penates of autiquity.”
From The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Ralph T. H. (Ralph Thomas Hotchkin) Griffith
Marcus and I sat on a garden bench and he enthused about Jerusalem: “So unlike Rome, so much more oriental—can it be we are free of our penates here?”
From Christ's Journal by Paul Alexander Bartlett
The cattle and goats were driven over, and the mats, calabashes, and other lares and penates, with the assegais and clubs of Sobèdè, were taken to Manciya’s kraal.
From The White Hecatomb And other Stories by W. C. (William Charles) Scully
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
