reredos
Americannoun
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a screen or a decorated part of the wall behind an altar in a church.
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the back of a fireplace or of a medieval open hearth.
noun
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a screen or wall decoration at the back of an altar, in the form of a hanging, tapestry, painting, or piece of metalwork or sculpture
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another word for fireback
Etymology
Origin of reredos
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, alteration of Anglo-French areredos, equivalent to Middle French arere “behind” + dos “back” (from Latin dorsum ); see arrears
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.
To prepare for the abatement, all open surfaces in the church must be covered, including the pipe organ on the balcony and the high altar, or reredos, which holds the tabernacle.
From Washington Times ● May 13, 2018
With its glowing gold, blue, red & black mosaics, its multi-colored marble panels and the ancient ikons on the reredos above its elaborate stone altar, it was a far cry from Manhattan's John Street Church.
From Time Magazine Archive
Beside the high altar, in the shadow of its towering reredos, he was enthroned.
From Time Magazine Archive
Dr. Stires, who entered the church wearing cassock and rochet, had stood humbly before the carved reredos while his attending presbyters garbed him in a chimere.
From Time Magazine Archive
It would have the cloisters of Tarragona with this outlook of Gerona's; also Gerona's altar and retablo, though the reredos of Avila and that of Tarragona are worthy rivals.
From Heroic Spain by Elizabeth Boyle O'Reilly
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.
