temple Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun place of worship consisting of an edifice for the worship of a deity
  2. noun the flat area on either side of the forehead
    • the veins in his temple throbbed
  3. noun an edifice devoted to special or exalted purposes
  4. noun (Judaism) the place of worship for a Jewish congregation
    synagogue; tabernacle.

WordNet

Tem"ple noun
Etymology
Cf. Templet.
Definitions
  1. (Weaving) A contrivence used in a loom for keeping the web stretched transversely.
Tem"ple noun
Etymology
OF. temple, F. tempe, from L. tempora, tempus; perhaps originally, the right place, the fatal spot, supposed to be the same word as tempus, temporis, the fitting or appointed time. See Temporal of time, and cf. Tempo, Tense, n.
Definitions
  1. (Anat.) The space, on either side of the head, back of the eye and forehead, above the zygomatic arch and in front of the ear.
  2. One of the side bars of a pair of spectacles, jointed to the bows, and passing one on either side of the head to hold the spectacles in place.
Tem"ple noun
Etymology
AS. tempel, from L. templum a space marked out, sanctuary, temple; cf. Gr. a piece of land marked off, land dedicated to a god: cf. F. témple, from the Latin. Cf. Contemplate.
Definitions
  1. A place or edifice dedicated to the worship of some deity; as, the temple of Jupiter at Athens, or of Juggernaut in India. "The temple of mighty Mars." Chaucer.
  2. (Jewish Antiq.) The edifice erected at Jerusalem for the worship of Jehovah.
    Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. John x. 23.
  3. Hence, among Christians, an edifice erected 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.
  4. Fig.: Any place in which the divine presence specially resides. "The temple of his body." John ii. 21.
    Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you? 1 Cor. iii. 16.
    The groves were God's first temples. Bryant.
Tem"ple transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To build a temple for; to appropriate a temple to; as, to temple a god. R. Feltham.

Webster 1913