reredos

Etymology

From rere (“rear”) + French dos (“back”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹiɹ.dɒs/

Alternative forms

• raredos
• reredosse

Noun

reredos (plural reredoses)

1. A screen or decoration behind the altar in a church, usually depicting religious iconography or images.
   • 1871, The Sacristy: A Quarterly Review of Ecclesiastical Art and Literature, Volume 1, John Hodges, London, page 246,

     A bad reredos will ruin the best church ever designed; and, although a good reredos cannot convert a bad church into a good one, it may do much to lessen the offensiveness of its badness.

   • 1998, Paul V. M. Flesher, Rereading the Reredos: David, Orpheus, and Messianism in the Dura Europa Syngogue, Dān Ûrman, Paul Virgil McCracken Flesher (editors), Ancient Synagogues: Historical Analysis and Archaeological Discovery, page 363,

     Confusion has reigned in scholarly interpretation, however, because the dark-colored leaves have shown through the succeeding coats of paint across the reredos, interfering with the later scenes.

   • 2007, F. E. Howard, English Church Woodwork, page 137,

     There seem to be no remains of wooden reredoses of the fourteenth century, though there are a number of examples in stone.

2. The back of an open fire-hearth, in medieval halls.

Synonyms

• retable

Anagrams

• Roeders, eroders, redoers