phylactery
Americannoun
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phylacteries
plural
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Judaism. either of two small, black, leather cubes containing a piece of parchment inscribed with verses 4–9 of Deuteronomy 6, 13–21 of Deuteronomy 11, and 1–16 of Exodus 13: one is attached with straps to the left arm and the other to the forehead during weekday morning prayers by Orthodox and Conservative Jewish men.
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(in the early Christian church) a receptacle containing a holy relic.
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an amulet, charm, or safeguard against harm or danger.
noun
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Also called: Tefillah. Judaism (usually plural) either of the pair of blackened square cases containing parchments inscribed with biblical passages, bound by leather thongs to the head and left arm, and worn by Jewish men during weekday morning prayers
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a reminder or aid to remembering
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archaic an amulet or charm
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of phylactery
First recorded 1350–1400; from Late Latin phylactērium, from Greek phylaktḗrion “outpost, safeguard, amulet,” equivalent to phylak-, stem of phylássein “to protect, guard” + -tērion noun suffix denoting place; replacing Middle English philaterie, from Medieval Latin philatērium, for Late Latin, as above
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:
"Please! You'll ruin my grass. Put that phylactery down! Aw, you broke it. "
From The Verge ● Sep. 9, 2015
Next morning, Miss Scatcherd wrote in conspicuous characters on a piece of pasteboard the word “Slattern,” and bound it like a phylactery round Helen’s large, mild, intelligent, and benign-looking forehead.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
Throughout the time of war not a single one of them neglected even the slightest religious ceremony, were it only to put on the phylactery of the forehead before that of the arm.
From The Legends of the Jews — Volume 3 by Paul Radin
"He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust," is a text bound over her daily life, as a phylactery was bound between the eyes of an ancient Hebrew.
From The Wonders of Prayer A Record of Well Authenticated and Wonderful Answers to Prayer by D. W. (Daniel Webster) Whittle
Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die, was the common phylactery.
From Dealings with the Dead, Volume I (of 2) by A Sexton of the Old School
But they did not don prayer shawls or phylacteries — small cases holding slips inscribed with passages of Scripture bound to the head and arm— that are customarily worn during morning prayers.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 24, 2021
“Observant travelers may be wearing a head covering, prayer shawl, and phylacteries — in Hebrew, kippah, tallit, and tefillin,” according to the travel notice on the TSA Web site.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 10, 2014
Before the nodding copse, tangled in its phylacteries, her cry of guilt was the hollow hooting of a nameless bird in a field of desecration.
From Time Magazine Archive
He works every day but Saturday, rising at 6 a.m. to put on the traditional phylacteries for his prayers.
From Time Magazine Archive
I quickly unwound my phylacteries and ran to the window.
From "Night" by Elie Wiesel
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.
