Penates
Americanplural noun
-
gods who watched over the home or community to which they belonged: originally, two deities of the storeroom.
plural noun
Etymology
Origin of Penates
1505–15; < Latin Penātēs, akin to penus stock of provisions
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
There were also public Lares and Penates, who did for the city what the others did for the family.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
The most prominent and revered of them all were the Lares and Penates.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Every Roman family had a Lar, who was the spirit of an ancestor, and several Penates, gods of the hearth and guardians of the storehouse.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
It symbolized the family tie, the domestic virtues, the Lares and Penates of classic mythology.
From Homes of American Statesmen With Anecdotical, Personal, and Descriptive Sketches by Various
There were also the Penates in every home, whom it would perhaps be hard to distinguish very clearly from the Lares.
From The Conflict of Religions in the Early Roman Empire by Glover, T. R. (Terrot Reaveley)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.