mikvah

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mik·vah

 (mĭk′və, mēk-vä′)
n. pl. mik·voth or mik·vot (-vōt′, -vōs′) or mik·vahs
1. A ritual purification bath that is taken by observant Jews on certain occasions, as before marriage or after menstruation or childbirth, or when converting to Orthodox or Conservative Judaism.
2. A building, room, or fixture in which this bath takes place.

[Hebrew miqwâ, reservoir or miqwe, collection (of water), immersion pool, both from qāwâ, to collect; see qbw in Semitic roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

mikvah

(mikˈvɑ; ˈmikvə) or

mikveh

n
(Judaism) Judaism a pool used for ritual purification, esp by women after their monthly period
[from Hebrew]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.mikvah - (Hebrew) a ritual purification and cleansing bath that Orthodox Jews take on certain occasions (as before Sabbath or after menstruation)
bath - you soak and wash your body in a bathtub; "he has a good bath every morning"
Judaism - the monotheistic religion of the Jews having its spiritual and ethical principles embodied chiefly in the Torah and in the Talmud
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
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References in periodicals archive ?
Jewish communities establish a wide network of institutions wherever they go--synagogues, schools, mikvot (ritual baths), cemeteries, gemachim (free-loan funds), professional support networks, and so on--as if the process was built into the DNA of the people.
Mikvot, like Christian baptism, cannot alone bring spiritual cleanliness.
Karmely and representatives of other community mikvot see a resurgence in the spiritual practice, but because visits to a mikvah are so private, it is difficult to tell whether the number of women using them is on the rise, and still more difficult to describe their reasons for doing so.