Associations to the word «Bethlehem»

Wiktionary

BETHLEHEM, proper noun. A city in Palestine, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus.
BETHLEHEM, noun. (obsolete) A lunatic asylum.
BETHLEHEM, noun. (architecture) In the Ethiopic church, a small building attached to a church edifice, in which the bread for the Eucharist is made.

Dictionary definition

BETHLEHEM, noun. A town in eastern Pennsylvania on the Lehigh River to the northwest of Philadelphia; an important center for steel production.
BETHLEHEM, noun. A small town near Jerusalem on the West Bank of the Jordan River; early home of David and regarded as the place where Jesus was born.

Wise words

Words are always getting conventionalized to some secondary meaning. It is one of the works of poetry to take the truants in custody and bring them back to their right senses.
William Butler Yeats