Tāb'er-na-cle1, n.
(Synop., § 130), n. [Fr. & Pr. tabernacle, Sp. & Pg. tabernaculo, It. tabernacolo, Lat. tabernaculum, diminutive of taberna, a hut, shed, from the root of tabula, a board.]
Sense 1. A slightly built or temporary habitation; especially, a tent. “Orange-trees planted in the ground, and secured in winter with a wooden tabernacle and stoves.” Evelyn.
Sense 2. (Jewish Antiq.) A portable structure of wooden framework covered with curtains, which was carried through the wilderness in the Israelitish exodus, as a place of sacrifice and worship.
Sense 3. Hence, the Jewish temple; and, more rarely, any other place of worship.
Sense 4. Any small cell, or like place, in which some holy or precious thing was deposited or kept;—hence, (a.) The ornamental receptacle for the pyx, over an altar. (b.) A reliquary, or small box for the preservation of relics. (c.) A niche, originally for the image of a saint, but later for any image; also, a statue supported by a bracket and having a canopy above it, but with little or no recess in the wall. Britton. (d.) A triptych, or case for sacred imagery with folding doors. (e.) A seat or stall in a choir, with its canopy.
Feast of Tabernacles (Jewish Antiq.), one of the three principal festivals of the Jews, lasting seven days, during which the people dwelt in booths formed of the boughs of trees, in commemoration of the habitation of their ancestors in similar dwellings during their pilgrimage in the wilderness. — Tabernacle work, rich canopy work like that over the head of niches, used over seats or stalls, or over sepulchral monuments. Orf. Gloss.