Western Wall

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Related to Western Wall: Dome of the Rock, Wailing Wall

Western Wall

A remnant of the retaining wall that underlay the second Temple in Jerusalem. The Western Wall is now a site of pilgrimage, lamentation, and prayer by Jews. Also called Wailing Wall.

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.

Western Wall

1. (Placename) Judaism a wall in Jerusalem, the last extant part of the Temple of Herod, held sacred by Jews as a place of prayer and pilgrimage. Also called: Wailing Wall

2. (Judaism) Judaism a wall in Jerusalem, the last extant part of the Temple of Herod, held sacred by Jews as a place of prayer and pilgrimage. Also called: Wailing Wall

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

West′ern Wall′

a wall in Jerusalem where Jews, on certain occasions, assemble for prayer and lamentation: traditionally believed to be the remains of the western wall of Herod's Temple, destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70. Also called Wailing Wall.

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References in classic literature ?

As he crossed the floor of the canyon he saw something lying close to the base of the side wall he was approaching-something that stood out in startling contrast to all the surroundings and yet seemed so much a part and parcel of the somber scene as to suggest an actor amid the settings of a well-appointed stage, and, as though to carry out the allegory, the pitiless rays of flaming Kudu topped the eastern cliff, picking out the thing lying at the foot of the western wall like a giant spotlight.

And then, with a parting glance at the ancient skeleton, he turned to the task of ascending the western wall of the canyon.

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Helena, Saxon hailed with joy the unmistakable redwoods they could see growing up the small canyons that penetrated the western wall of the valley.

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It was in this apartment, also, that there stood against the western wall, a gigantic clock of ebony.

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That he was not discovered was a miracle, for mounted warriors were constantly riding back and forth from the camp into the forest; but the long day wore on and still he continued his seemingly fruitless quest, until, near sunset, he came opposite a mighty gate in the city's western wall.

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In the middle of the hall, backed against the western wall, a large and magnificent gallery draped with cloth of gold, into which enter in procession, through a small, arched door, grave personages, announced successively by the shrill voice of an usher.

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"Slaughter the Jews" was spray-painted on the Kotel HaKatan, or "little Western Wall," a section of the Western Wall located in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.

'Slaughter the Jews' Painted on Section of Western Wall

Summary: Tel Aviv [Israel], April 2 (ANI): Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a visit to the Western Wall on Monday afternoon.

Brazilian President arrives on 4-day trip to Israel, visits Western Wall with Netanyahu

The third strange occurrence took place this week, when a snake was filmed slithering out of Israel's Western Wall, unexpectedly interrupting prayers.

The THREE signs that Biblical prophecies about end of the world and the Messiah are 'coming true'; The trio of 'signs' have all emerged in the past few months

"I never thought a fence in Finchley could be a place where I encountered God as much as at the Western Wall," said a man at a retreat I was leading.

A fence in Finchley

Equipped with long sticks, a team of cleaners on Tuesday gouged out written prayers that visitors to Judaism's Western Wall in Jerusalem traditionally cram into its crevices.