Definition of "tabernacle" []

• The portable sanctuary in which the Jews carried the Ark of the Covenant through the desert. (noun)
• A case or box on a church altar containing the consecrated host and wine of the Eucharist. (noun)
• A place of worship. (noun)
• A niche for a statue or relic. (noun)
• Nautical A boxlike support in which the heel of a mast is stepped. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The use of a veil outside or within the tabernacle is an old custom, hearkening to the Old Testament imagery of the sanctuary tent and the Temple."
• "God's tabernacle is called the tabernacle of David because David desired and chose to dwell in God's tabernacle for ever, Ps. lxi."
• "Although this is a complex question and would require a more profound reflection, one can probably ackowledge that the moving of the tabernacle from the altar of celebration versus populum (i.e., the new altar) has some arguments more in its favor, since it is based not only on the conflict of presences, but also on the principle of the truth of the liturgical signs."