Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A container in which wafers for the Eucharist are kept.
  • noun A container in which the Eucharist is carried to the sick.
  • noun A chest in a mint in which specimen coins are placed to await assay.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To test by weight and assay, as the coins deposited in the pyx at the British mint. See trial of the pyx, above.
  • noun In the Roman Catholic Church, the vase or vessel in which the reserved eucharist is kept.
  • noun A box or chest in which specimen coins are deposited at the British mint.
  • noun Nautical, the metallic box in which the nautical compass-card is suspended.
  • noun In anatomy, the acetabulum of the hip-bone; the cotyloid cavity; the pyxis.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb engraving To test as to weight and fineness, as the coins deposited in the pyx.
  • noun (R. C. Ch.) The box, case, vase, or tabernacle, in which the host is reserved.
  • noun A box used in the British mint as a place of deposit for certain sample coins taken for a trial of the weight and fineness of metal before it is sent from the mint.
  • noun (Naut.) The box in which the compass is suspended; the binnacle.
  • noun (Anat.) Same as Pyxis.
  • noun (R. C. Ch.) a veil of silk or lace covering the pyx.
  • noun the annual testing, in the English mint, of the standard of gold and silver coins.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun the small container used to hold the consecrated bread of the Eucharist

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any receptacle in which wafers for the Eucharist are kept
  • noun a chest in which coins from the mint are held to await assay

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English pyxe, from Latin pyxis, box, from Greek puxis.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin pyxis, from late Ancient Greek πυξις ("box").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word pyx.

Examples

  • In later times however it has come about that the term pyx is limited in ordinary usage to that smaller vessel of gold, or silver-gilt, in which the Eucharist is commonly carried to the sick.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 12: Philip II-Reuss 1840-1916 1913

  • One extant mediaeval example of the pyx cloth that covered the pyx is to be found, coming from the Hessett Church in Suffolk, England:

    The Hanging Pyx 2009

  • The hanging pyx is a suspended form of tabernacle, or place of reservation in other words, for the Blessed Sacrament.

    The Hanging Pyx 2009

  • The word pyx (Lat., pyxis, which transliterates the Greek, pyxis, box-wood receptacle, from pyxos, box-tree) was formerly applied in a wide and general sense to all vessels used to contain the Blessed

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 12: Philip II-Reuss 1840-1916 1913

  • From the resemblance in size and shape the word pyx is also used to denote the small silver vessel or custode in which the Sacred

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 12: Philip II-Reuss 1840-1916 1913

  • Personally, I thought it was sort of amazing that anyone twelve years old would know that a pyx is a container for the Host during communion.

    VANISHING ACTS JODI PICOULT 2005

  • Personally, I thought it was sort of amazing that anyone twelve years old would know that a pyx is a container for the Host during communion.

    Vanishing Acts Picoult, Jodi, 1966- 2005

  • Personally, I thought it was sort of amazing that anyone twelve years old would know that a pyx is a container for the Host during communion.

    VANISHING ACTS JODI PICOULT 2005

  • Personally, I thought it was sort of amazing that anyone twelve years old would know that a pyx is a container for the Host during communion.

    VANISHING ACTS JODI PICOULT 2005

  • A pyx is the vessel, usually boxlike, which holds the consecrated Eucharist.

    A Handbook of Symbols in Christian Art Gertrude Grace Sill 1975

  • The word 'pyx' comes from the Latin word 'pyxis' or small box.

    Trial of the Pyx - Ensuring Coin Accuracy & Quality | The Royal Mint 2024

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.