temple

nounverbnounnouncommon in dialogue

//ˈtɛm.pl̩//

A house of worship, especially: A house of worship dedicated to a polytheistic faith.

noun

1
A house of worship, especially: A house of worship dedicated to a polytheistic faith.
The temple of Zeus was very large.
2
A house of worship, especially: Synonym of synagogue, especially a non-Orthodox synagogue.
How often do you go to temple?
3
A house of worship, especially: As opposed to an LDS meetinghouse, a church closed to non-Mormons and necessary for particular rituals.
4
A meeting house of the Oddfellows fraternity; its members.
5
figurativeAny place regarded as holding a religious presence.
6
figurativeAny place seen as an important centre for some activity.
a temple of commerce; a temple of drinking and dining
7
figurativeAnything regarded as important or minutely cared for.
My body is my temple.
For nature crescent does not grow alone In thews and bulks, but as this temple waxes, The inward service of the mind and soul Grows wide withal.
8
figurativeA gesture wherein the forefingers are outstretched and touch pad to pad while the other fingers are clasped together.
Again Abdullah listened intently, his eyes closed, his ten fingers forming a temple of his hands in front of him.

Etymology

From Middle English temple, from Old English templ, tempel, borrowed from Latin templum (“shrine, temple, area for auspices”). Compare Old High German tempal (“temple”), also a borrowing from the Latin. Displaced native Old English ealh.

verb

1
To build a temple for; to appropriate a temple to; to temple a god
though the Heathen (in many places) Templed and adored this drunken God

noun

1
The slightly flatter region, on either side of the head of a vertebrate, including a human, behind the eye and forehead, above the zygomatic arch, and forward of the ear.
Then Iael Hebers wife, tooke a naile of the tent, and tooke an hammer in her hand, and went softly vnto him, and smote the naile into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: (for he was fast asleepe, and weary;) so he died.
Biblical criteria of sexual seductiveness include a white skin, black hair, or henna-dyed, scarlet lips, a prominent nose, rosy temples, long straight neck, firm breasts, round thighs, an erect posture.
A few days after the electrodes were implanted, Bennett welcomed visitors into his hospital room. His head is wrapped in bandages. A thick braid of wires hangs from his left temple.
2
Either of the sidepieces on a set of spectacles, extending backwards from the hinge toward the ears and, usually, turning down around them.

Etymology

From Middle English temple, from Old French temple, from Vulgar Latin *temp(u)la, from Latin tempora (“the temples”), plural of tempus (“temple, head, face”). See temporal bone.

noun

1
A contrivance used in a loom for keeping the web stretched transversely.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin templum (“a small timber, a purlin”); compare templet and template.

Forms

plural: temples
past tense: templed
past participle: templed
present participle: templing
third person singular: temples

temperature · A measure of cold or heat, often measurable with a…templar · A barrister having chambers in the Inner Temple or Middle…Templar · A Knight Templar, one of the Knights Templar.

temple · A house of worship, especially: A house of worship dedicated to a polytheistic faith.

Temple · A male given name from Latin.Temples · A surname.tempo · A frequency or rate.

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.