Adjacent Words

Laver definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

LA'VER, n. A vessel for washing; a large basin; in scripture history, a basin placed in the court of the Jewish tabernacle, where the officiating priests washed their hands and feet and the entrails of victims.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: Australian tennis player who in 1962 was the second man to win the Australian and French and English and United States singles titles in the same year; in 1969 he repeated this feat (born in 1938) [syn: Laver, Rod Laver, Rodney George Laver]
2: (Old Testament) large basin used by a priest in an ancient Jewish temple to perform ritual ablutions
3: edible red seaweeds [syn: red laver, laver]
4: seaweed with edible translucent crinkly green fronds [syn: sea lettuce, laver]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English lavour, from Anglo-French lavour, lavere, from Medieval Latin lavatorium Date: 1535 a large basin used for ceremonial ablutions in the ancient Jewish Tabernacle and Temple worship II. noun Etymology: New Latin, from Latin, a water plant Date: 1611 any of several common red algae (genus Porphyra) with fronds used especially for stewing or pickling — compare nori

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. any of various edible seaweeds, esp. Porphyra umbilicalis, having sheetlike fronds. Phrases and idioms: laver bread a Welsh dish of laver which is boiled, dipped in oatmeal, and fried. Etymology: L 2. n. 1 Bibl. a large brass vessel for Jewish priests' ritual ablutions. 2 archaic a washing or fountain basin; a font. Etymology: ME lavo(u)r f. OF laveo(i)r f. LL (as LAVATORY)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Laver Lav"er (l[=a]"v[~e]r), n. [OE. lavour, F. lavoir, L. lavatorium a washing place. See Lavatory.] 1. A vessel for washing; a large basin. 2. (Script. Hist.) (a) A large brazen vessel placed in the court of the Jewish tabernacle where the officiating priests washed their hands and feet. (b) One of several vessels in Solomon's Temple in which the offerings for burnt sacrifices were washed. 3. That which washes or cleanses. --J. H. Newman.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Laver Lav"er, n. [From Lave to wash.] One who laves; a washer. [Obs.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Laver La"ver (l[=a]"v[~e]r), n. The fronds of certain marine alg[ae] used as food, and for making a sauce called laver sauce. Green laver is the Ulva latissima; purple laver, Porphyra laciniata and P. vulgaris. It is prepared by stewing, either alone or with other vegetables, and with various condiments; -- called also sloke, or sloakan. Mountain laver (Bot.), a reddish gelatinous alga of the genus Palmella, found on the sides of mountains

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(Heb. kiyor), a "basin" for boiling in, a "pan" for cooking (1 Sam. 2:14), a "fire-pan" or hearth (Zech. 12:6), the sacred wash-bowl of the tabernacle and temple (Ex. 30:18, 28; 31:9; 35:16; 38:8; 39:39; 40:7, 11, 30, etc.), a basin for the water used by the priests in their ablutions.

That which was originally used in the tabernacle was of brass (rather copper; Heb. nihsheth), made from the metal mirrors the women brought out of Egypt (Ex. 38:8). It contained water wherewith the priests washed their hands and feet when they entered the tabernacle (40:32). It stood in the court between the altar and the door of the tabernacle (30:19, 21).

In the temple there were ten lavers used for the sacrifices, and the molten sea for the ablutions of the priests (2 Chr. 4:6). The position and uses of these are described 1 Kings 7:23-39; 2 Chr. 4:6. The "molten sea" was made of copper, taken from Tibhath and Chun, cities of Hadarezer, king of Zobah (1 Chr. 18:8; 1 Kings 7:23-26).

No lavers are mentioned in the second temple.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

la'-ver (kiyor):

1. In the Tabernacle:

Every priest in attendance on the altar of Yahweh was required to wash his hands and his feet before entering upon his official duties (Ex 30:19 ). To this end a laver was ordered to be made as part of the tabernacle equipment (Ex 30:17-21; 38:8). Its composition was of brass (bronze), and it consisted of two parts, the bowl and its pedestal or foot (Ex 30:18, etc.). This first laver was a small one, and was made of the hand mirrors of the women in attendance upon the altar (Ex 38:8). Its place was between the altar and the tabernacle (Ex 40:30).

See TABERNACLE.

2. In the Temple:

The difficulty as to the washing of parts of the sacrificial carcasses was overcome, in the temple of Solomon, by the construction of "10 lavers" and a "molten sea" (1Ki 7:23-37; 2Ch 4:2-6; see TEMPLE; SEA, THE MOLTEN). We learn from 2Ch 4:6 that the "sea" was for the priests to wash in--therefore took the place of the laver in the tabernacle--and the lavers were used as baths for portions of the burnt offerings. The lavers themselves were artistic works of unusual merit for that age. Like that in the tabernacle, each had its own stand or base, which was cast in a separate piece from the laver. These bases rested on wheels which allowed of the laver being moved from one part of the court to another without being turned about. Five stood on the north and five on the south side of the temple. They were ornamented with "lions, oxen, and cherubim," and on a lower level, with a series of wreaths or festoons of flowers (1Ki 7:27-37). In modern speech, the lavers may be described as so many circular open tanks for the storage of water. Each laver contained 40 baths (about 320 gals.) of water. Its height was 5 cubits, the locomotive machinery being 3 cubits in height, and the depth of the bowl or tank, judging from its capacity, about 2 cubits. The last we hear of the lavers, apart from their bases, is that the idolatrous king Ahaz cut off the border of the bases, and removed the bases from them (2Ki 16:17). During the reign of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah foretold that the molten sea and the bases (there being then no lavers) should be carried to Babylon (Jer 27:19). A few years later it is recorded that the bases were broken up, and the brass of which they were made was carried away (Jer 52:17).

3. The Laver in the New Testament:

The Greek word (loutron) occurs twice in the New Testament. In Eph 5:26, Paul says that Christ gave Himself for the church "that he might sanctify it having cleansed it by the washing (Greek "laver") of water with the word"; and in Tit 3:5 he says that we are saved "through the washing (Greek "laver") of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit." In these passages the reference is to the constant physical purity demanded of the Jewish priests when in attendance upon the temple. Christians are "a holy priesthood," and are cleansed not by water only, but, in the former passage, "with the word" (compare Joh 15:3); in the latter, by the "renewing of the Holy Spirit" (compare Eze 36:25; Joh 3:5). The feet-washing mentioned by Jesus is emblematic of the same thing (Joh 13:10).

W. Shaw Caldecott