Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Apse
1.
(Arch.)
(a)
A projecting part of a building, esp. of a church, having in the plan a polygonal or semicircular termination, and, most often, projecting from the east end. In early churches the Eastern apse was occupied by seats for the bishop and clergy.
Hence: (b)
The bishop’s seat or throne, in ancient churches.
2.
A reliquary, or case in which the relics of saints were kept.
☞ This word is also written
apsis
and absis
. Definition 2024
apse
apse
See also: apsē
English
Noun
apse (plural apses)
- (architecture) A semicircular projection from a building, especially the rounded east end of a church that contains the altar.
- 1960, Leo Steinberg, San Carlo Alle Quattro Fontane: A Study in Multiple Form and Architectural Symbolism
- The draughtsman could not have held the sheet with the apse at the tip, for then, instead of shading away from the edge, most of his hatched lines would begin in the uncharted middle ground of a shadeable area, to strike against the contour; […]
- 1960, Leo Steinberg, San Carlo Alle Quattro Fontane: A Study in Multiple Form and Architectural Symbolism
- The bishop's seat or throne in ancient churches.
- A reliquary, or case in which the relics of saints were kept.
- (astronomy, obsolete) The nearest and furthest points to the centre of gravitational attraction for a body in orbit. More usually called an apsis.
Translations
semicircular projection from a building
bishop's seat or throne
|
case in which the relics were kept — see reliquary
astronomy: apsis — see apsis
obsolete or dialectal: aspen tree — see aspen
See also
Etymology 2
Noun
apse (plural apses)
- (obsolete or dialectal) An aspen tree.
Anagrams
Latvian
Etymology
From Proto-Baltic *apse, from Proto-Indo-European *apsā, from *(H)osp-, already the name of the same tree. Cognates include Lithuanian ẽpušė, dialectal ãpušė, apušė̃, Old Prussian abse, Proto-Slavic *opsa (Russian, оси́на (osína), Ukrainian осина (osýna), Belarusian асіна (asína), all from earlier *opsina, Bulgarian осика (osíka), Czech dialectal and Polish osa, osina), Old High German aspa, Middle High German aspe, German Espe, Old Norse ǫsp, English asp, Swedish asp.[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [apsɛ]
Noun
apse f (5th declension)
- aspen tree (esp. Populus tremula)
- apses koksne ― aspen wood
- smaržīgā apse ― fragrant aspen
- ātraudzīgā apse ― fast-growing aspen
- trīc kā apšu lapa ― (s/he) trembles like an aspen leaf
Declension
Declension of apse (5th declension)
Anagrams
References
- ↑ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992), “apse”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, ISBN 9984-700-12-7