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Meanings

1. The rounded east end of a church that contains or is behind the altar.
2. The interior portion of this section of the church building, excluding the ambulatory and any apse chapels.
3. A semicircular projection from any building that is similar to a church's apse.
4. The bishop's seat or throne in ancient churches.
5. A reliquary: a case in which the relics of saints are kept.
6. Obsolete form of apsis (“the nearest and furthest points to the centre of gravitational attraction for a body in orbit”).

1. An aspen tree.

Etymology

From Latin apsis, hapsis, from Ancient Greek ἁψίς (hapsís, “arch, vault”), from ἅπτω (háptō, “to bind, join”).