from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Temple \Tem"ple\, n. [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. t['e]mple, from the Latin.
Cf. {Contemplate}.]
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.
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2. (Jewish Antiq.) The edifice erected at Jerusalem for the
worship of Jehovah.
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Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.
--John x. 23.
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3. Hence, among Christians, an edifice erected as a place of
public worship; a church.
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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.
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4. Fig.: Any place in which the divine presence specially
resides. "The temple of his body." --John ii. 21.
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Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that
the spirit of God dwelleth in you? --1 Cor. iii.
16.
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The groves were God's first temples. --Bryant.
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5. (Mormon Ch.) A building dedicated to the administration of
ordinances.
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6. A local organization of Odd Fellows.
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{Inner Temple}, and {Middle Temple}, two buildings, or ranges
of buildings, occupied by two inns of court in London, on
the site of a monastic establishment of the Knights
Templars, called the Temple.
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