CIBORIUM, in Antiquity, a drinking-cup, so called from the κιβόριον or seed-vessel of the Egyptian bean, which in Egypt was applied to that use. (Hor., Od. ii. 7.)
Ciborium also denotes a kind of architectural structure composed of an arched vault or dome, carried or supported on four columns. In Roman Catholic countries these are erected over shrines and altars. The word is likewise applied less properly to the pyx or box in which the host is preserved.