Etymology From Middle English temple, from Old English templ, tempel, borrowed from Latin templum (“shrine, temple, area for auspices”). Compare Old High German tempal (“temple”), also a borrowing from the Latin. Displaced native Old English ealh.
A house of worship dedicated to a polytheistic faith.
The temple of Zeus was very large.
As of October 1968 Lukang, which had a resident population of between 27,000 and 28,000 people, had 39 temples. It is my impression that Lukang has more temples than do most Taiwanese communities of equivalent size. By temple I mean a structure that houses an image, altar, and incense pot, and is freely accessible to the general public. In speaking of the 39 temples of Lukang, I am omitting the numerous small shrines to the unknown dead (Yu Ying Kung), buildings dedicated to ancestors rather than deities (two), Christian churches (four), incense-burner associations that keep their incense pot or image in private homes, and private shrines such as the domestic altars of tang-ki (spirit mediums) or the shrine of the now defunct Ch'üan-chou guild, found in the back room of a drugstore endowed with the guild property.[...]Lukang, seen in comparative perspective, has a lot of temples.1974, Donald R. DeGlopper, “Religion and Ritual in Lukang”, in Arthur P. Wolf, editor, Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society (Studies in Chinese Society), Stanford: Stanford University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 46:
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Judaism Synonym of synagogue, especially a non-Orthodox synagogue.
How often do you go to temple?
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Mormonism As opposed to an LDS meetinghouse, a church closed to non-Mormons and necessary for particular rituals.
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A meeting house of the Oddfellows fraternity; its members.
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Figuratively Any place regarded as holding a religious presence.
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Figuratively Any place seen as an important centre for some activity.
a temple of commerce; a temple of drinking and dining
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Figuratively Anything regarded as important or minutely cared for.
My body is my temple.
For nature crescent does not grow alone In thews and bulks, but as this temple waxes, The inward service of the mind and soul Grows wide withal.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], lines 11–14:
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Figuratively A gesture wherein the forefingers are outstretched and touch pad to pad while the other fingers are clasped together.
Again Abdullah listened intently, his eyes closed, his ten fingers forming a temple of his hands in front of him.2010, James LePore, A World I Never Made, page 251:
Etymology From Middle English temple, from Old English templ, tempel, borrowed from Latin templum (“shrine, temple, area for auspices”). Compare Old High German tempal (“temple”), also a borrowing from the Latin. Displaced native Old English ealh.
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To build a temple for; to appropriate a temple to; to temple a god
though the Heathen (in many places) Templed and adored this drunken God1623, Owen Feltham, Resolves: Divine, Moral, Political:
temple
noun
Etymology From Middle English temple, from Old French temple, from Vulgar Latin *temp(u)la, from Latin tempora (“the temples”), plural of tempus (“temple, head, face”). See temporal bone.
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Anatomy, Medicine, Sciences The slightly flatter region, on either side of the head of a vertebrate, including a human, behind the eye and forehead, above the zygomatic arch, and forward of the ear.
Then Iael Hebers wife, tooke a naile of the tent, and tooke an hammer in her hand, and went softly vnto him, and smote the naile into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: (for he was fast asleepe, and weary;) so he died.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Judges 4:21:
Biblical criteria of sexual seductiveness include a white skin, black hair, or henna-dyed, scarlet lips, a prominent nose, rosy temples, long straight neck, firm breasts, round thighs, an erect posture.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 219:
1 more example
A few days after the electrodes were implanted, Bennett welcomed visitors into his hospital room. His head is wrapped in bandages. A thick braid of wires hangs from his left temple.2013 December 9, Amy Standen, “Epilepsy Patients Help Decode The Brain's Hidden Signals”, in NPR:
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Medicine, Ophthalmology, Sciences Either of the sidepieces on a set of spectacles, extending backwards from the hinge toward the ears and, usually, turning down around them.