English

Alternative forms

• baldacchino
• baldachin
• baldachino
• baldakin
• baldaquin
• baudekin
• baudekyn
• baudkin
• baudkyn
• bawdekin

Noun

baldacchin ‎(plural baldacchins)

1. A rich, embroidered brocade used for clothing in the Middle Ages, the web being gold and the woof silk.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Nares to this entry?)

2. A canopy suspended over an altar or throne, originally made of this fabric; a ciborium.
   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, p. 682:

     Bernini had already provided the chief coup de théâtre of the basilica's interior, the monumental bronze canopy or baldachino over the high altar and tomb of St Peter.

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