temple

Etymology 1

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.

noun

1. A house of worship, especially:
   1. 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, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 46
   2. (Judaism) Synonym of synagogue">synagogue, especially a non-Orthodox synagogue">synagogue.
      How often do you go to temple?
   3. (Mormonism) As opposed to an LDS meetinghouse, a church closed to non-Mormons and necessary for particular rituals.
   4. (in Japan) A Buddhist monastery, as opposed to a Shinto shrine.
2. A meeting house of the Oddfellows fraternity; its members.
3. (figurative) Any place regarded as holding a religious presence.
4. (figurative) Any place seen as an important centre for some activity.
   a temple of commerce; a temple of drinking and dining
5. (figurative) Anything regarded as important or minutely cared for.
   My body is my temple.
6. (figurative) 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

verb

1. (transitive) 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 God

Etymology 2

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.

noun

1. (anatomy) The slightly flatter region, on either side of the human head, behind of the eye and forehead, above the zygomatic arch, and forward of the ear.
2. (ophthalmology) Either of the sidepieces on a set of spectacles, extending backwards from the hinge toward the ears and, usually, turning down around them.

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Latin templum (“a small timber, a purlin”); compare templet and template.

noun

1. (weaving) A contrivance used in a loom for keeping the web stretched transversely.