ark, arke, arcke

[A.S. arc, erc, eare; Sw., Dan., and Dut. ark; Ger. and Fr. arc he: Goth. ark a; Gael. airc; Prov. arch a; Irish airg, airk; Sp., Port., Ital., and Lat. arc a. From the same root as Lat. arceo to enclose.] LA chest, a box, a coffer with a lid. Specially 1. The ark used in Jewish worship, called the Ark of the Covenant (Numb. x. 33, .), the Ark of the Testimony (Exod. xxx. 6), the Ark of God (2 Sam. vii. 2), the Ark of Ia (God's) Testament (Rev. xi. 19), the Ark of JEWISH ARK. (FROM CALMET.) Thy (God's) strength (Ps. cxxxii. 8), and the Ark of the Lord (1 Kings ii. 26). It was an oblong chest of acacia-wood overlaid with gold inside and out. On its top was the mercy seat, and inside it at first were the two tables of stone, the pot of manna, and Aarcu's rod which budded (1 Kings viii. 9, and Heb. ix. 4. 304 At each of the four corners was a ring into which staves or poles might be fitted to carry it when it required to be moved. 2. A large chest for holding meal. ( Scotch .) when we have sent awa the haill meal in the ark and the girnal."- Scott : Old Mortality , chap. xx. II. A chest-like ve el or ship. Specially 1. Literally : (a) Noah's ark, a chest-like ve el about the dimensions of the Great Eastern steam-ship. "Make thee an ark of gopher-wood." Gen. vi. 14. (b) The ark made of bulrushes, rendered watertight by a coating of bitumen, in which Moses when an infant was committed to the Nile. she took for him an ark of bulrushes,..." Exod . ii. 3. (c) In America : A large boat used on the American rivers to transport produce to market. ( Webster .) 2. Fig .: Life. ""But thou," said I, 'hast mi 'd thy mark, Who sought'st to wreck my mortal ark.'" Tennyson: The Two Voices.