(A work in progress)

"A thing indicative of some other things, a sign, tangible proof of a statement, a pledge.  From the Anglo-Saxon 'tacen', meaning a sign or type."

 

{The Idaho Freemason, April 2005}

The Obligation and the Oath: 

The obligation is a promise made by the candidate to the members of his Lodge and to the Fraternity. 

The oath is the "So help me God!" that follows the obligation.

Worshipful:

Used when addressing the Master of the Lodge.  "Worship" is derived from the Old English "worchyppe" or "worchyp" meaning "greatly respected."

In the Wycliffe Bible, "Honor thy father and thy mother" appears as "Worchyp thy fadir and thy modir." 

Bourn:   ".. from whose bourn no traveler returns." 
Exact wording used in Hamlet, Act 111, Scene 1 by William Shakespeare.

Meaning "boundary." Now an obsolete word except in literature and Masonic rituals.

Gavel:

In American and English lodges, the Worshipful Master presides over the lodge using a Gavel.  A gavel is also called a "Hiram."
In Scotland, the Master presides over his lodge with a setting maul.

Lodge:

A lodge is a society of Masons meeting by authority of a charter or warrant from a regular grand lodge for the purpose of doing Masonic work and transacting appropriate business.
In Masonic terminology the word sometimes means the place or hall in which a particular lodge meets.

Healing:

Healing is re-obligation of a brother, to cure or correct that which has been omitted or done in error in initiating, passing, or raising him.

Clandestine:

A clandestine Mason is one who is or was affiliated with a clandestine lodge. He cannot be healed!  This term also applies to a Lodge or ritual not authorized by a regular Grand Lodge.

Irregular:

A lodge with a proper charter, though not legally constituted for a particular communication, such as, if fewer than seven members are present, or if due notice of the communication has not been given as and when required, or in the event the membership of the lodge is less than twenty members, is not a clandestine lodge and Masons made therein are not clandestine Masons, but they are irregular Masons. In such case the irregularity or error shall be cured by "healing" the candidate in a regularly constituted lodge. This cannot be done without the approval of the Grand Master.

Form:

A lodge is always opened and closed in Form on the degrees of Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft except when the Grand Master presides.

Due Form:

Meaning according to the ancient usages and customs, the laws and ritual of the Grand Lodge. A lodge is always opened and closed in Due Form on the degree of Master Mason except when the Grand Master presides.

Ample Form:

The Grand Master may open and close a lodge in shortened form to save time.  His power and authority are "ample" to accomplish his purpose, regardless of the manner in which he does it.

Exclusion or Suspension:

The exclusion or suspension of a brother deprives him of all his Masonic privileges and prohibits all Masonic intercourse between him and his brethren during the time of his exclusion or suspension.

Expulsion:

Expulsion from Masonry is the highest penalty that can be incurred and the most severe punishment that can be inflicted for any violations of Masonic engagements. It excludes a Mason from all his Masonic rights and privileges forever, until he be restored by the Grand Lodge.

Summons:

A summons is a call of authority, a citation to appear and answer to the charges therein set forth. It may also be an imperative injunction to appear at the time and place named therein, or to attend on the Grand Master, a District Deputy Grand Master, or any committee or other body or person authorized by the Grand Lodge or Grand Master to issue it.
Note:  Some Grand Jurisdictions also use the term "Notice" as meaning the same as "Summons."

A. L.

"Anno Lucis" meaning "In the year of light."  The Masonic method of designating dates, which is 4000 plus the current year. 
The Masonic date for 2006 is 6006 because the ancients believed creation began 4000 years before the birth of Christ.

Cowan:

An old Scottish word meaning an ignorant Mason who puts stones together without mortar.  Also designates an apprentice who tries to masquerade as a Mason.

Eavesdropper:

In ancient times the eavesdropper was that would-be thief of secrets who listened under the eaves of houses.
In modern times the eavesdropper is one who forges a "good standing" card or finds one and masquerades as its owner.  Or one who reads an expose of Masonry and tries to gain admission into a lodge to learn it's "secrets."

V.S.L.

"Volume of Sacred Law" or "Holy Writ."  The "Great Light" of Masonry.  A book of  Divine Revelation.  It is the Book of Faith of the prevailing country or region.  The book of that natural religion in which all men agree.

Dimit (Demit):

Permission given a member to terminate his membership - or the paper representing that permission.  A lodge is obliged to grant a dimit to one who asks for it, provided he is in good standing and no charges have been or are about to be preferred against him.

Oblong Square:

An "oblong square" is symbolically said to be the form of the lodge, which is actually a rectangle with its length running East to West and its breadth extending South to North.
Anciently, the word "square" as in "square surface" did not denote a figure with four equal sides, but any figure which had right angles at all four corners, therefore either a form with four equal sides or a rectangle.

Ashlar:

Masonically, there are two forms of ashlars, rough and perfect.  The "rough" ashlar is neither dressed, squared, or polished.  The "perfect" ashlar has been chipped and shaped; finished for use by the builder.
We, as Masons, should direct our attention to the fact that the perfect ashlar is made from the rough ashlar entirely by a process of taking away; removal of unwanted material. Nothing is added to a rough ashlar to make it perfect. The analogy to the Mason, who is a building stone in the spiritual temple of Masonry, is that the perfect man is within the rough man, and that perfection is to be obtained by a process of taking away the "vices and superfluities of life."

Abif (Hiram Abif) :

The word "abif" is translated both as "his father" and "my father" with "father" used in these senses as a patriarch or father of a family.
"Hiram, my father" is thus a title of honor and respect

Dotage:

That time in a man's life when his mental powers deteriorate.  Some men enter dotage in early life; others never enter it at all.

Nonage:

Any age less than that of manhood; normally considered to be twenty-one years.

Fool:

Masonically, a fool is a mature man without good common sense.  Legally, he is of age, mentally he is retarded.

Profane:

Masonically one who is profane is "not a Mason."  Or one "outside the temple" or uninitiated.  It has no connection to "profanity" or of taking God's name in vain.
"Profane" is derived from the Latin pro meaning before, and fanum, a temple.

High Twelve / Low Twelve:

Noon and midnight.

Hecatomb:

One hundred head of cattle.
In our Masonic teachings we are told that Pythagoras, upon solving the 47th problem of Euclid, cried "Eureka, I have found it" and forthwith "sacrificed a hecatomb." 
Pythagoras was, in fact, very poor and probably didn't own even one cow.  He was also a vegetarian and revered all animals.

Landmarks:

Different Grand Lodges have adopted various so-called "landmarks" as applying to Masons in their jurisdiction.
One of the best descriptions this webmaster has found is as follows:  "The Masonic conception of a landmark is a fundamental law of Masonry which no body of men or Masons can repeal.  Some jurisdictions list no landmarks while some have twenty or more.  The seven most recognized seem to be as follows:
1) Monotheism or the belief in one God.
2) Belief in immortality.
3) The Volume of Sacred Law as an indispensable part of the furniture of a Lodge.
4) The legend of the Third Degree.
5) Secrecy.
6) Symbolism.
7) To become a Mason one must be freeborn, adult, and male.

Every Mason should ascertain what his own Grand Lodge considers to be landmarks and govern himself accordingly.

So Mote It Be:

"Mote" is Old English for "may."  These are the final words in the oldest known Masonic Document, the "Regius Poem" and have been used by Masons since long before the first recorded history of the Craft.

Hoodwink:

A blindfold.

Acacia:

Acacia is a sacred Hebrew wood known in the scripture as "Sittah" or “Shittah”. The Ark of the Covenant was made from it.

Acacia is part of our initiation as Master Masons and represents immortality of the soul, as the soul lives on after our bodies have been put to rest.

Acacia can be a bush, a tree, or a grove of trees. If you cut it down, it grows back; if you burn it, it grows back; if you try to dig it up and leave one root, it will grow back. Acacia can live through floods, droughts, and bad soil conditions. There is little doubt to the reason Acacia is our Masonic symbol of immortality.

Ecliptic:

An ecliptic is that plane which passes through the center of the sun that contains the orbit of the earth.
During the year the height of the sun at mid day (meridian height) moves from the Tropic of Capricorn, which is south of the equator by 23 degrees 27 minutes, to the Tropic of Cancer, which is 23 degrees 27 minutes north of the equator.
All buildings that lie within this band on the earth can have the rays of the sun penetrate the north side of it.
Since Solomon's Temple was located in Jerusalem, which is located approximately 32 degrees north of the equator, then the rays of the sun could not penetrate the north side of the building.
If we stand in Jerusalem or anywhere that is that far north of the equator, we will always see light begin in the East, pass through the South, and end in the West… Only to repeat again tomorrow.
The real significance of this darkness is the symbolism it teaches the candidates as well as the member on the sidelines:  North is a symbol of darkness and means ignorance. Light in Masonry is a symbol of knowledge.

Wardens:

Wardens are found in all bodies of Masonry, in all rites, in all countries. Its derivation gives the meaning of the word. It comes from the Saxon weardian, to guard or to watch.
Only Wardens (or Past Masters) may be elected Master. This requirement (which has certain exceptions, as in the formation of a new lodge) is very old.  The fourth of the Old Charges reads: “No brother can be a Warden until he has passed the part of a Fellowcraft; nor a Master, until he has acted as Warden...”

 

Lewis:

Masonically, the word is universally used to denote the under-age son of a Freemason.
In England a dispensation may be obtained, permitting the initiation of a lewis under twenty-one years of age. In Scotland any lewis may be initiated at eighteen. In North Dakota, a lewis may apply to a lodge before he is twenty-one, but cannot be initiated until he has reached twenty-one.
The Classic instance of a lewis being initiated in this country is George Washington, who was only twenty years and some months of age when he became an Entered Apprentice in "The Lodge at Fredericksburgh" (Virginia), November 4, 1752.

Compasses / Compass:

From the standpoint of the dictionary, these are two words with totally different meanings. A Compass is a suspended magnet so balanced that it may turn upon its pivot and orient itself with the North magnetic pole.  Compasses is the word used to describe that instrument which draws circles and/or measures small distances.  Compasses are also called dividers.
Like trousers and scissors, Compasses is always plural when meaning the instrument - except in six Grand Lodges of the United States which use the word Compass in the same way as other jurisdictions use Compasses .

Hele (pronounced Hail):

Hele (meaning to hide)  is almost invariable associated with the word "conceal" (as it should be) and "Hele and conceal" in reality have the same meaning.  These are called word pairs and are used together just as are  "parts and points", " Free will and accord", etc.
Some will argue that "HELE" should be pronounced " heel" because it rhymes with "conceal and reveal."  The fact is that in the early days of the language, our "conceal" was pronounced "consayle" and our "reveal" was pronounced "revayle".

Ahiman Rezon:

The title given by Laurence Dermott to the Book of Constitutions of the Antient Grand Lodge in England, 1751. The title was brought to America and in early days was used in several Grand Lodges; it is still the title of the Books of the Law in Pennsylvania and in South Carolina. Mackey believed that the title came from "The Breeches Bible," published in 1560, in which Ahiman is translated "prepared brother" and Rezon as "secretary;" from this he deduces that the translation of Ahiman Rezon is properly "Brother Secretary."

All Seeing Eye:

The eye was a symbol of God in both India and Egypt prior to the days of the Old Testament.

Antient:

Old English for "Ancient."  The Antient Grand Lodge was really more modern than the "Mother" Lodge from whence it split in 1751 .

Blue  (As in Blue Lodge) :

Having the color of clear sky or the sapphire. 
Blue was adopted as the official color of the Symbolic Lodge by the Mother Grand Lodge, which first proclaimed white as the color and then changed to blue. Various theories account for the color as that descriptive of a Symbolic Lodge; it came from the blue vault of heaven; blue was the official color of the Order of the Garter and was adopted for lodges in an attempt to add the dignity of that decoration to the Fraternity.
Blue Lodge and Blue Masonry are other names for Symbolic Lodges and Symbolic Masonry.

Cable Tow:

A cord or rope.  In Masonry, symbolic of the first ties between the initiate and his new brethren.
"A Cable Tow's length from shore" refers to a measurable distance; a "cable's length" is usually from 100 to 140 fathoms.
Present day thought is that the "length of a cable tow" is the scope of a man's reasonable ability. A cripple with a broken crutch might find ten feet "beyond his ability" while a wealthy man with his own airplane and no pressing duties might find several hundred miles "within his ability."

Charter:

The document given by a Supreme Masonic body to a subordinate body, empowering it to exist and work.

Circumambulation:

That ceremony in which initiates walk completely around the Altar in imitation of sun and fire worshippers who thus encircled early stone altars with fire upon them. Masonic circumambulation is East to West by way of South, or clockwise. This is the direction which, to early man, the sun seemed  to travel. 
All ceremonial movements within a Lodge are clockwise except during the second section of the Fellowcraft degree when the initiate traverses the winding stairs of three, five, and seven steps.

Dispensation:

Certain acts of a Grand Master who has the power to set aside certain laws or regulations of his Grand Lodge. Masonic jurisdictions have placed different limits on the powers of their Grand Master as to what he can and cannot do.  Some jurisdictions provide him the power to set aside any rule or law that is not a landmark.  Others say "he is not answerable for his acts as Grand Master."

Battery:

Formal salutes.  Stylized blows of hand on hand.
Grand Honors in many Grand Lodges are so offered a Grand Master in one form in public, another in private.  Deputies may also be honored with private Grand Honors during official visits to a Lodge.

Indented tessel or Tessellated border:

The border or skirting surrounding the ground floor of Solomon's Temple.

Jewel:

In a Lodge there are three movable and three immovable jewels.
Each officer also wears the representative jewel (badge) of his office on a cord or band about his neck.

Just:

A Lodge is considered "just" when it has in use, the three Great Lights, a charter or warrant, and the required number of brethren to open the Lodge and conduct its business.

Lesser Lights:

The three lights in a triangular arrangement near or around the Altar.

Level:

Parallel with the horizon or a tool to indicate this. 
Symbolically, like square, the level has come into common use as meaning honorable. "On the level" is similar to "on the square" and "to level with him" means to deal honestly and truthfully.
In Masonry, "we meet upon the level and part upon the square" is an expression with the same connotations; derived from the level and square as working tools, first of a stone mason, then of a Speculative Mason.

Recognition:

A declaration of faith in the legitimacy one Grand Lodge has for another.  Masons are permitted to visit freely any Lodge "Recognized" by his Grand Lodge.  Likewise, Masons may not visit or hold Masonic communication with members of Lodges that are subordinate to any "Unrecognized" Grand Lodge.