Temple

(tĕm'pl), n. [Fr. & Pr. temple, Sp. & Pg. templo, It. templo, tempio, from Lat. templum, a space marked out, a sanctuary, temple, for tempulum, as a dim. of tempus, according to its primary signification, a piece or portion cut off.]

1Sense 1. An edifice erected in honor of some deity, or for his worship; as, the temple of Jupiter at Athens, or of Juggernaut in India.

2Sense 2. (Jewish Antiq.) The edifice erected at Jerusalem for the worship of Jehovah.

3Sense 3. Hence, an edifice erected among Christians as a place of public worship; a church.

Can he, whose life is a perpetual insult to the authority of God, enter with any pleasure a temple consecrated to devotion and sanctified by prayer? Buckminster.

4Sense 4. Any place in which the divine presence specially resides.

The groves were God's first temples. Bryant.

5Sense 5. In London, an edifice once occupied by the order of Knights Templars, and now appropriated to the chambers of two inns of court. They are called the inner and the middle temple.

n. [O. Fr. temple, N. Fr. tempe, Pr. templa, It. tempia, from Lat. tempora, tempus, properly, the right place, the fatal spot, from tempus, temporis, the fitting or appointed time: See TEMPER.] (Anat.) The flat portion of the head above the zygomatic arch, or between the forehead and ear.

n. (Weaving.) A contrivance used in a loom for stretching the web transversely.

To build a temple for; to appropriate a temple to. [Rare.] Feltheim.