mezuzah

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me·zu·zah

also me·zu·za (mə-zo͝oz′ə, -zo͞o-zä′)

n. pl. me·zu·zahs also me·zu·zas (-zo͝oz′əz) or me·zu·zot (-zo͞o-zôt′)

1. A small piece of parchment inscribed with the biblical passages Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21 and marked with the word Shaddai, a name of the Almighty, that is rolled up in a container and affixed by many Jewish households to their door frames in conformity with Jewish law and as a sign of their faith.

2. The container that holds this piece of parchment.

[Hebrew məzûzâ, doorpost, mezuzah; see ḏwḏ in Semitic roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

mezuzah

(məˈzʊzə; -ˈzuː-; Hebrew məzʊˈzɑ; Yiddish məˈzʊzə)

n, pl -zuzahs or -zuzoth (Hebrew -zuˈzɔt)

1. (Judaism) a piece of parchment inscribed with biblical passages and fixed to the doorpost of the rooms of a Jewish house

2. (Judaism) a metal case for such a parchment, sometimes worn as an ornament

[from Hebrew, literally: doorpost]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

me•zu•zah

art at miasma

or me•zu•za

(məˈzʊz ə, -ˈzu zə)

n., pl. -zu•zoth, -zu•zot (-zuˈzɔt) -zu•zahs or -zu•zas.

Judaism. a parchment scroll inscribed with Deut. 6:4–9 and 11:13–21 and with the word Shaddai (a name for God), inserted in a case and attached to the doorpost of the home.

[1640–50; < Hebrew məzūzāh literally, doorpost]

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Noun

mezuzah - religious texts from Deuteronomy inscribed on parchment and rolled up in a case that is attached to the doorframe of many Jewish households in accordance with Jewish law

mezuza

section, subdivision - a self-contained part of a larger composition (written or musical); "he always turns first to the business section"; "the history of this work is discussed in the next section"

Book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy - the fifth book of the Old Testament; contains a second statement of Mosaic law

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References in periodicals archive ?

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My friend later told me it was called a mezuzah, which recalls the Exodus, when lamb's blood smeared on the doorpost marked the homes that God's angel of death would pass over during the plague of the firstborn.

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As the camera backs out of the room into the hallway, the viewer notices the roughly three-inch-long rectangle of a Jewish mezuzah on the doorframe of the apartment.