Ambo

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈæmbəʊ/
• Rhymes: -æmbəʊ

From Late Latin ambō, from Ancient Greek ἄμβων.

Full definition of ambo

Noun

1. A raised platform in an early Christian church, as well as in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic churches.
• 1918, ‘It will get better somehow,’ he thought, and went to the ambo. On going up the steps and turning to the right he saw the priest. — Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, tr. Louise & Aylmer Maude (Oxford 1998, page 438)
• 1997, the Emperor arrived and instead of moving directly to his seat climbed to the top level of the ambo, the great three-decker pulpit of polychrome marble. — John Julius Norwich, A Short History of Byzantium (Penguin 1998, page 150)
2. (Roman Catholicism) A stationary podium used for readings and homilies.
• 2010, The dignity of the Word of God requires that in the church there be a suitable place from which it may be proclaimed and toward which the attention of the faithful naturally turns during the Liturgy of the Word. It is appropriate that generally this place be a stationary ambo and not simply a movable lectern. (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops 2011, #309)

Related terms

• ambon, lectern, podium, pulpit

Shortening of ambulance + -o.

Noun

1. (informal) An ambulance driver.
2. (informal) An ambulance.

Anagrams

• boma
• Moab, MOAB