LECTERN • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Lectern

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/lˈɛktərn/ Listen

noun

Lectern n. (Written also lecturn and lettern)

A choir desk, or reading desk, in some churches, from which the lections, or Scripture lessons, are chanted or read.

Hence: A reading desk, usually in the form of a stand with a slanted top that holds books or lecture notes at a height convenient for reading by a speaker who is standing. A modern lectern may be of adjustable height, and be fitted with a light to illuminate the material on the desk, and sometimes a microphone or other electrical equipment for use of a speaker.

Lecturn n. (Written also lectern and lettern) Same as lectern.

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Etymology of 'Lectern'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Lectern" Quotes from Famous Books

... first steps of the altar, were for the divines. The president and vice-president knelt facing each other. The priests, deacons, and sub-deacons followed, according to their rank. There were slenderer benches, and these were for the choir; and from the great gold lectern the leader conducted ...

— Celibates • George Moore

... read in the Lives of the Saints, that the devil takes on the form of a woman? Yes—it is a woman's voice. And a tender, timid, pleasant voice. Phui!' And he spat to exorcise the devil. 'No, it was only my imagination,' he assured himself, and he went to the corner where his lectern stood, falling on his knees in the regular and habitual manner which of itself gave him consolation and satisfaction. He sank down, his hair hanging over his face, and pressed his head, already going bald ...

— Father Sergius • Leo Tolstoy

... at her reflectively from the little lectern on which he leaned. His composed smile indicated that he was not in the least surprised or disturbed by her report on the results of the week's experiments—that they were, in fact, precisely the results he had expected. "I'll speak to you about it later, Perrie," he told her gently. ...

— Ham Sandwich • James H. Schmitz

... Highland shepherd's dog usually lies contentedly under his master's seat during a long service, and even an archbishop's collie, named Watch, used to be very still and well-behaved during the daily service, only once being roused to attention and a stately progress to the lectern by the sound of his master's voice reading the verse "I say unto all, Watch." But our ancestors made war against dogs entering churches. In mediaeval and Elizabethan times such does not seem to have been the case, as one of the duties of the clerks ...

— The Parish Clerk (1907) • Peter Hampson Ditchfield

... attains its highest perfection in the church of St. Mary Redcliffe at Bristol. On 'Rush Sunday' the floor is strewn with Rushes. All the merchants throw open their conservatories for the vicar to take his choice of their flowers, and the pulpit, the lectern, the choir, and the communion rails and table present a scene of great beauty."—The Garden, ...

— The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare • Henry Nicholson Ellacombe

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