Penates

or pe·na·tes

[puh-ney-teez, -nah-]

plural noun Roman Religion.

gods who watched over the home or community to which they belonged: originally, two deities of the storeroom.

Compare Lares.

Origin of Penates

1505–15; < Latin Penātēs, akin to penus stock of provisions

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for penates

Contemporary Examples of penates

Thank the Lares and Penates that Howard Fast wrote Spartacus for similar reasons.
Erica Jong Defends Feminist Revolution
Erica Jong
March 27, 2012

Historical Examples of penates

Hamersley recognises them as part of the penates of his late host.
The Lone Ranche
Captain Mayne Reid
The Penates of the city were above all the emperor and his family.
Pompeii, Its Life and Art
August Mau
We will set up our Lares and Penates in its very centerahem!
Three Little Women's Success
Gabrielle E. Jackson
Hence, his appeal to the female Penates took this constricted form.
Cradock Nowell, Vol. 2 (of 3)
Richard Doddridge Blackmore
The Penates, Mr. Warde Fowler tells us, were the spirits of the foods.
Comparative Religion
J. Estlin Carpenter

British Dictionary definitions for penates

penates

pl n

See lares and penates

Word Origin for penates

Latin

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 penates

Roman household gods, 1510s, from Latin penates "gods of the inside of the house," related to penatus "sanctuary of a temple" (especially that of Vesta), cognate with penitus "within" (see penetrate).