Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A temple of ancient Mexico, usually built on a pyramidal mound.
- noun The mound on which such a temple was built.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A structure of earth and stone or brick, used as a temple or place of worship by the Mexicans and other aborigines of America.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Literally, God's house; a temple, usually of pyramidal form, such as were built by the aborigines of Mexico, Yucatan, etc.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
terraced Mesoamerican pyramid surmounted by atemple .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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This festival was the most important in Mexico, and took place at the temple or "teocalli," a gigantic, pyramid-like mass of stone, rising in terraces to a height of eighty-six feet above the city, and culminating in a small summit platform upon which the long procession of priests and victims could be seen from all parts of the city.
Critical and Historical Essays Lectures delivered at Columbia University Edward MacDowell 1884
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And when we reach the sea we encounter at Suku, in Java, a teocalli which is absolutely identical with that of Tehuantepec.
Atlantis : the antediluvian world Ignatius Donnelly 1866
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Able, ruthless and bloodthirsty, Ahuitzotl doubled the size of the Aztec empire and is once said to have ritually slaughtered twenty thousand prisoners at a reconstructed teocalli, or sacrificial "god house."
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Able, ruthless and bloodthirsty, Ahuitzotl doubled the size of the Aztec empire and is once said to have ritually slaughtered twenty thousand prisoners at a reconstructed teocalli, or sacrificial "god house."
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About the center of the roof rose a sort of teocalli some ten feet high, almost exactly like those found in Mexico and on which the priests of the Aztecs sacrificed human victims.
The Moon of Skulls Howard, Robert E. 2005
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Then Santiago with a shriek leaped upon me -- shrieked again and, arms flung high, pitched headlong from the teocalli with his own dagger buried to the hilt in his breast.
The Moon of Skulls Howard, Robert E. 2005
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On the teocalli Santiago stood like a statue of black basalt, facing the east, dagger held high -- a wild and terrible sight, naked as he was save for a wide silken girdle and that inhuman mask on his face.
The Moon of Skulls Howard, Robert E. 2005
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To the foot of the teocalli I stalked and up the stair that ran about it, until I stood beside the death altar and marked the dark red stains upon it.
The Moon of Skulls Howard, Robert E. 2005
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Then the black worshipers were on us with a screech and a roar -- leaping on the steps of the teocalli like black leopards in the moonlight, knives flashing, eyes gleaming whitely.
The Moon of Skulls Howard, Robert E. 2005
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Speaking of the great teocalli of the city of Mexico, he says, quoting an old description, that the Moon had a little temple in the great courtyard, which was built of shells.
Anahuac : or, Mexico and the Mexicans, Ancient and Modern Edward Burnett Tylor
treeseed commented on the word teocalli
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Pronunciation: \ˌtē-ə-ˈka-lē, ˌt�?-ə-ˈkä-\
Function: noun
Etymology: Nahuatl te�?calli, from te�?tl god + calli house
Date: circa 1613
: an ancient temple of Mexico or Central America usually built upon the summit of a truncated pyramidal mound; also : the mound itself
Also seen as teocallis
February 24, 2008