rood screen
/ˈɹuːd skɹiːn/US/ˈɹud ˌskɹin/
rood screen noun: a carved screen that separated the chancel and nave in a medieval church; it originally carried a large crucifix; in continental Europe it often featured a balcony from which the Gospel and sermons could be read.
Noun
rood screen (plural rood screens)
- A carved screen that separated the chancel and nave in a medieval church; it originally carried a large crucifix; in continental Europe it often featured a balcony from which the Gospel and sermons could be read.
- Near-synonyms: dorsal, dossal
- The church at Randworth is without aisles, and consists of a chancel and nave only. The rood-screen proper, i.e., the arcade with panels below, is placed, as usual, between the piers of the chancel arch.1867, Illustrations of the Rood-screen at Randworth: Published under the Direction of the Norfolk and Norwich Archæological Society. Drawn and Lithographed by C[ornelius] J[ansen] W[alter] Winter...
- Synonyms:
- altar screen, chancel screen, choir screen, jubé, dorsal, dossal
Examples of rood screen in a sentence
- This rood screen [in St Edmund's Church, Southwold] is all that ruthless iconoclasts have suffered to remain.1874, “Halesworth Meeting, August 11, 1870. The Lord John Hervey, President.”, in Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archæology, and...
- Although easily overlooked, these panels belonged to what was perhaps the single most important piece of ecclesiastical furniture in the Romanesque cathedral of Durham: the rood screen.1994, Thomas E. Russo, “The Romanesque Rood Screen of Durham Cathedral: Context and Form”, in David Rollason, Margaret Harvey, Michael...
Synonyms of rood screen
- altar screen
- chancel screen
- choir screen
- jubé
- dorsal
- dossal
Forms of rood screen
| plural | rood screens |
|---|
Origin of rood screen
rood (“cross; crucifix”) + screen.
Questions about rood screen
- What does rood screen mean?
- Rood screen means a carved screen that separated the chancel and nave in a medieval church; it originally carried a large crucifix; in continental Europe it often featured a balcony from which the Gospel and sermons could be read.
- How do you use rood screen in a sentence?
- This rood screen [in St Edmund's Church, Southwold] is all that ruthless iconoclasts have suffered to remain.
- What part of speech is rood screen?
- Rood screen is a noun.
- How do you pronounce rood screen?
- Rood screen is pronounced /ˈɹuːd skɹiːn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of rood screen?
- The plural of rood screen is rood screens.
Words near rood screen in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: rood screen (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-rood screen.wav.
Cite this entry: “rood screen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rood_screen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.