mitre

¹

[ mahy-ter ]

noun

, mi·tred, mi·tring.

1. Chiefly British. a variant of miter.

Mitre

²

[ mee-trey; Spanish mee-tre ]

noun

1. Bar·to·lo·mé [bah, r, -taw-law-, me], 1821–1906, Argentine soldier, statesman, and author: president of Argentina 1862–68.

mitre

/ ˈmaɪtə /

noun

1. Christianity the liturgical headdress of a bishop or abbot, in most western churches consisting of a tall pointed cleft cap with two bands hanging down at the back
2. short for mitre joint
3. a bevelled surface of a mitre joint
4. (in sewing) a diagonal join where the hems along two sides meet at a corner of the fabric

verb

1. to make a mitre joint between (two pieces of material, esp wood)
2. to make a mitre in (a fabric)
3. to confer a mitre upon

   a mitred abbot

Word History and Origins

Origin of mitre¹

C14: from Old French, from Latin mitra, from Greek mitra turban

Example Sentences

The Vatican released pictures of the body on Sunday, dressed in red papal mourning robes and wearing a gold-trimmed mitre.

From BBC

“They can arrest us until Jesus comes back,” said Makiti, wearing a bishop’s mitre with a miniature bottle of spirits hanging off it.

From Reuters

Keen on the iconography of pairing a steep mitre with a pair of flashy slip-ons, Benedict celebrated the majesty of clerical garments.

From The New Yorker

The church replaced it after the American Revolution with what is called a bishop’s mitre, which represented the shift from the Church of England to the Episcopal Church.

From Washington Times

Every time a new bishop donned his mitre was another chance to put the children and what was right both morally and legally ahead of criminals who just happened to be priests or deacons.

From Washington Times

Related Words

• administrator
• cleric
• director
• patriarch
• pontiff
• pope
• prelate
• priest