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
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
"The great reredos at Winchester does not sing in greater ecstasy than the marble symphony which he has built in the chancel of St. Thomas's."
From Time Magazine Archive
Thus the chapel reredos is dominated by a massive cross.
From Time Magazine Archive
A new stall, a reredos, the choir repaved, rich marbles and porphyries used, and stained glass put up mainly by Clayton and Bell, were the chief items of restoration.
From Cathedral Cities of England by Gilbert, George
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.
