faldstool

American  

[fawld-stool] / ˈfɔldˌstul /

noun

1. a chair or seat, originally one capable of being folded, used by a bishop or other prelate when officiating in his own church away from his throne or in a church not his own.

2. a movable folding stool or desk at which worshipers kneel during certain acts of devotion.

3. such a stool placed at the south side of the altar, at which the kings or queens of England kneel at their coronation.

4. a desk at which the litany is said or sung.

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faldstool British  

/ ˈfɔːldˌstuːl /

noun

1. a backless seat, sometimes capable of being folded, used by bishops and certain other prelates

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Etymology

Origin of faldstool

1595–1605; < Medieval Latin faldistolium < West Germanic *faldistōl (compare Old High German faltistuol, late Old English fældestōl, fyldestōl ); see fold ¹, stool; cf. fauteuil

Example Sentences

At a faldstool on the left of the altar, the Queen knelt and prayed alone.

From Time Magazine Archive

It is of cast bronze, sharpened with the chisel and partially gilt; it is of the curule or faldstool type and supported upon legs terminating in the heads and feet of animals.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 7 "Cerargyrite" to "Charing Cross" by Various

Beneath a yew They lighted: a faldstool by shady pines O'erhung, was spread with Alexandrine silk.

From La Chanson de Roland : Translated from the Seventh Edition of Léon Gautier by Rabillon, Léonce

As the Bishop was about to sit down on the faldstool, Mark saw him whisper to the young priest beside him, the one Mark thought to be the secretary.

From Charred Wood by Shepherd, J. Clinton

As we rose to go, my eye caught a highly-finished drawing of the Resurrection painted above the place where the desk and faldstool and lectern, holding an open missal book, stood. 

From Daily Thoughts selected from the writings of Charles Kingsley by his wife by Kingsley, Fanny E.