Reliquary

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Reliquary \Rel"i*qua*ry\ (r?l"?-kw?-r?), n.; pl. {-ries}
     (-r[i^]z). [LL. reliquiarium, reliquiare: cf. F. reliquaire.
     See {Relic}.]
     A depositary, often a small box or casket, in which relics
     are kept.
     [1913 Webster]



From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  reliquary
       n : a container where religious relics are stored or displayed
           (especially relics of saints)

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  100 Moby Thesaurus words for "reliquary":
     arch, barrow, beehive tomb, bone house, boundary stone, box grave,
     brass, burial, burial chamber, burial mound, bust, cairn,
     catacombs, cenotaph, chalice, charnel house, chrismal, chrismatory,
     ciborium, cist, cist grave, column, cromlech, cross, cruet, crypt,
     cup, cyclolith, dagoba, deep six, delubrum, dokhma, dolmen, font,
     footstone, grave, gravestone, headstone, hoarstone, holy place,
     holy-water font, house of death, inscription, last home, long home,
     low green tent, low house, marker, mastaba, mausoleum, megalith,
     memento, memorial, memorial arch, memorial column, memorial statue,
     memorial stone, menhir, monolith, monstrance, monument, mound,
     mummy chamber, naos, narrow house, necrology, obelisk, obituary,
     ossuarium, ossuary, ostensorium, passage grave, pillar, pit,
     plaque, prize, pyramid, pyx, reliquaire, remembrance,
     resting place, ribbon, rostral column, sacrarium, sepulcher, shaft,
     shaft grave, shrine, stela, stone, stupa, tablet, testimonial,
     tomb, tombstone, tope, tower of silence, trophy, tumulus, vault
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  RELIQUARY, n.  A receptacle for such sacred objects as pieces of the
  true cross, short-ribs of the saints, the ears of Balaam's ass, the
  lung of the cock that called Peter to repentance and so forth. 
  Reliquaries are commonly of metal, and provided with a lock to prevent
  the contents from coming out and performing miracles at unseasonable
  times.  A feather from the wing of the Angel of the Annunciation once
  escaped during a sermon in Saint Peter's and so tickled the noses of
  the congregation that they woke and sneezed with great vehemence three
  times each.  It is related in the "Gesta Sanctorum" that a sacristan
  in the Canterbury cathedral surprised the head of Saint Dennis in the
  library.  Reprimanded by its stern custodian, it explained that it was
  seeking a body of doctrine.  This unseemly levity so raged the
  diocesan that the offender was publicly anathematized, thrown into the
  Stour and replaced by another head of Saint Dennis, brought from Rome.