baldachin
Americannoun
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Textiles. Also a silk brocade interwoven with gold or silver threads, used chiefly for ceremonial purposes.
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Architecture. a permanent ornamental canopy, as above a freestanding altar or throne.
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a portable canopy carried in religious processions.
noun
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a richly ornamented silk and gold brocade
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a canopy of fabric or stone over an altar, shrine, or throne in a Christian church or carried in Christian religious processions over an object of veneration
Other Word Forms
- baldachined adjective
Etymology
Origin of baldachin
1250–1300; earlier baldakin < Medieval Latin baldakinus < Italian baldacchino, equivalent to Baldacc ( o ) Baghdad (famous as a source of silk brocades) + -ino -ine 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Start your tour with the baldachin, the great canopy over the papal altar and St. Peter’s tomb, crafted by master artist and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
From National Geographic • Jul. 18, 2015
We can see St. Matthew on the left above the baldachin, and St. John on the right.
From National Geographic • Jul. 18, 2015
HE had the rheumy eyes of a bloodhound, the jowls of a St. Bernard and a baldachin of white hair like that of an extraordinarily unkempt poodle.
From Time Magazine Archive
To signify this fact, the cardinals tug heavy silken cords to drop the baldachin that hangs over each chair, leaving only the new Pope's throne covered.
From Time Magazine Archive
Under the baldachin hovered a gilded Cupid, spotted and faded, with his arrow aimed at the bed.
From The Precipice by Goncharov, Ivan Aleksandrovich
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
