retable
a decorative structure raised above an altar at the back, often forming a frame for a picture, bas-relief, or the like, and sometimes including a shelf or shelves, as for ornaments.
Origin of retable
1Words Nearby retable
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use retable in a sentence
Thus in an old retable in Westminster Abbey, so painted, the painting has flaked off.
At the head of the left aisle is a chapel which also has an elaborate marble retable of the same period.
The Cathedrals and Churches of the Rhine | Francis MiltounOn the retable at the foot of the reredos, stand two massive candlesticks of silver gilt.
Highways and Byways in Cambridge and Ely | Rev. Edward Conybeare.The lowered sill and recess probably formed a convenient retable to an altar against the wall.
Bell's Cathedrals: The Churches of Coventry | Frederic W. WoodhouseIn the ancient Abbey Church are two masterpieces, a retable in carved wood and a tomb ornamented with exquisite statuettes.
East of Paris | Matilda Betham-Edwards
British Dictionary definitions for retable
/ (rɪˈteɪbəl) /
an ornamental screenlike structure above and behind an altar, esp one used as a setting for a religious picture or carving
Origin of retable
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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