Definition of "Bethlehem"

Bethlehem

/ˈbɛθləhɛm/

proper noun
1. A city in the West Bank, Palestine, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus.
  Quotations
  Now when Ieſus was boꝛne in Bethlehem of Iudea, in the dayes of Herod the king, behold, there came Wiſe men from the Eaſt to Hierusalem,
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Matthew 2:1
2. A number of other places around the world:
  1. A hamlet near Rottum, Groningen province, Netherlands.
  2. A settlement just west of Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.
  3. A town in Free State province, South Africa.
  4. A quarter of Bümpliz-Oberbottigen, city of Bern, Switzerland.
  5. A small village in Llangadog community, Carmarthenshire, Wales (OS grid ref SN6825).
  6. A hamlet in Rudbaxton community, Pembrokeshire, Wales (OS grid ref SM9820).
  7. A number of places in the United States:
    A town in Litchfield County, Connecticut.
    An unincorporated community in Holmes County, Florida.
    A town in Barrow County, Georgia.
    A township and unincorporated community therein, in Clark County, Indiana.
    An unincorporated community in Henry County, Kentucky.
    An unincorporated community in Winn Parish, Louisiana.
    An unincorporated community in Caroline County, Maryland.
    A census-designated place in Marshall County, Mississippi.
    A town and census-designated place therein, in Grafton County, New Hampshire.
    A town in Albany County, New York.
    A census-designated place in Alexander County, North Carolina.
    A ghost town in Marion County, Ohio.
    An unincorporated community in Richland County, Ohio.
    A city in Northampton County and Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.
    An unincorporated community in Wayne County, Tennessee.
    An unincorporated community in Harrison County, West Virginia.
    A village in Ohio County, West Virginia.
    A number of other townships in the United States, listed under Bethlehem Township
noun
plural Bethlehems
1. (obsolete) A lunatic asylum.
2. (architecture) In the Ethiopic church, a small building attached to a church edifice, in which the bread for the Eucharist is made.
  Quotations
  […] to the Hebrew and Arabic word “korban” as now used in the Abyssinian Church to denote the sacramental bread specially prepared in the “Bethlehem,” or “House of Bread.”
  1869, John Baron, Anglosaxon witness on four alleged requisites for holy communion
  A small building, attached to Ethiopic churches, usually at the eastern end of the sacrarium, in which the deacon prepares and bakes the bread for use in the eucharist. This building is called the Bethlehem, or “house of bread.”
  1882, William Audsley, George Ashdown Audsley, Popular Dictionary of Architecture and the Allied Arts, page 200
  The deacon rings a bell when bread is brought from the bethlehem to the maqdas and at other liturgical times
  2006, Geoffrey Wainwright, Robert Earl Cushman, Karen B. Westerfield Tucker, The Oxford History of Christian Worship, page 143
  The priests and deacons assigned to the service wash their feet and hands, usually near the 'Bethlehem'.
  2014, Bryan D. Spinks, Do this in Remembrance of Me, page 174