Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SHOW'-BREAD, or SHEW'-BREAD, n. [show and bread.]

Among the Jews, bread of exhibition; the loaves of bread which the priest of the week placed before the Lord, on the golden table in the sanctuary. They were shaped like a brick, were ten palms long and five broad, weighing about eight pounds each. They were made of fine flour unleavened, and changed every sabbath. The loaves were twelve in number, and represented the twelve tribes of Israel. They were to be eaten by the priest only. – Encyc.