Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Definition for AL'TAR
AL-TA'IC, or AL-TA'IANAL'TAR-AGE
AL'TAR, n. [L. altare, probably from the same root as altus, high; Celt. alt, a high place.]
- A mount; a table or elevated place, on which sacrifices were anciently offered to some deity. Altars were originally made of turf, afterwards of stone, wood, or horn; some were round, others square, others triangular. They differed also in highth, but all faced the east. The principal altars of the Jews were the altar of incense, of burnt-offerings, and of show-bread; all of shittim wood, and covered with gold or brass. – Encyc.
- In modern churches, the communion table; and, figuratively, a church; a place of worship.
- In Scripture, Christ is called the altar of Christians, he being the atoning sacrifice for sin. We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat, who serve tabernacles. – Heb. xiii.
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