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• Penates
  Penates

  plural noun

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

  plural noun

  See lares and penates

Penates

American  

[puh-nay-teez, -nah-] / pəˈneɪ tiz, -ˈnɑ- /

Or penates

plural noun

Roman Religion.

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

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penates British  

/ pəˈnɑːtiːz /

plural noun

1. See lares and penates

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Etymology

Origin of Penates

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Penates penates

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

He was a physician and a naturalist: he seemed rather one of the Penates than of the inmates.

From Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and Travels, Vol. I (of 2) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

There were also the Penates in every home, whom it would perhaps be hard to distinguish very clearly from the Lares.

From The Conflict of Religions in the Early Roman Empire by T. R. (Terrot Reaveley) Glover

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 third year of the war is the third terror upon Washington, and upon those counterfeit penates.

From Diary from November 12, 1862, to October 18, 1863 by Adam G. de Gurowski, Count

Into the house he dashed, and as he recognised his lares and penates he uttered a howl of triumph.

From Bindle Some Chapters in the Life of Joseph Bindle by Herbert George Jenkins

At four o’clock Phoebe, with all her childish penates, was driven to the station by Mr. Buckley, who, it would appear, had come prepared for the emergency.

From What's-His-Name by Harrison Fisher

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