pyx

3 definitions found

pyx - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Pyx \Pyx\, v. t.
     To test as to weight and fineness, as the coins deposited in
     the pyx. [Eng.] --Mushet.
     [1913 Webster]

  Pyx \Pyx\, n. [L. pyxis a box, Gr. pyxi`s a box, especially of
     boxwood, fr. py`xos the box tree or boxwood. See Box a
     receptacle.] [Written also pix.]
     1. (R. C. Ch.) The box, case, vase, or tabernacle, in which
        the host is reserved.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. 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.
        --Mushet.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Naut.) The box in which the compass is suspended; the
        binnacle. --Weale.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. (Anat.) Same as Pyxis.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Pyx cloth (R. C. Ch.), a veil of silk or lace covering the
        pyx.
  
     Trial of the pyx, the annual testing, in the English mint,
        of the standard of gold and silver coins. --Encyc. Brit.
        [1913 Webster]

pyx - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  pyx
      n 1: a chest in which coins from the mint are held to await
           assay [syn: pyx, pix, pyx chest, pix chest]
      2: any receptacle in which wafers for the Eucharist are kept
         [syn: pyx, pix]