mihrabn.

1652 J. Notstock tr. J. Andrés Confusion Muhamed's Sect viii. 134 Muhamed went into the Mihrab or Chappell, and made the Zala with all the Prophets and Messengers.]

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors vi. 221 A man must cross this Court to go into the Mofquey, wherein are the Meherab and the Cathib, that is, the Altar and the Pulpit.

1673 J. Ogilby Asia 22/2 In the way towards the Meherab or Altar, the Tomb of the Sultan Mahumed Chodabende appears.

a1712 W. King tr. Persian & Turkish Tales (1714) II. 616 A Mihrab is an Altar of the Mahometans, made in the Shape of a Nich, on the top of which was writ these Words: There is no God but God, Mahomet is his Prophet.

1734 N. Tindal tr. D. Cantemir Hist. Growth & Decay Othman Empire I. iii. x. 217 His son causes to be erected before the Jami [sc. temple], a Mihrab. [Note] Mihrab Signifies both an Altar and the Southern part of a Jami.

1816 H. M. Williams tr. Ali Bey's Trav. II. xvi. 217 In the wall at the end of the nave is the mehreb or niche where the Imam places himself to direct the prayer.

1836 E. W. Lane Acct. Manners & Customs Mod. Egyptians I. iii. 94 In the centre of its exterior wall is the mehhra′b (or niche).

1839 J. Pardoe Beauties of Bosphorus 81 The mihrab, or niche at the eastern extremity of the edifice.

1854 Littell's Living Age 18 Nov. 290 In the mosque of Zohaide at Tebris (Tauris?) the mortar of the Mihraub having been mixed with musk exhales the sweetest perfume.

1883 E. O'Donovan Merv Oasis xx. 242 A large deep recess, furnished with a mirhab, or devotional station.

1914 Man 14 36 The horse-shoe arch..had penetrated to the holy shrines at Mekka and elsewhere in western Arabia, and had been closely associated with the mihrab (mahrab), or holy recess of Arab temples... But..the pointed arch..influenced in many places and at different periods the round horse-shoe shape of the original mihrab.

1930 E. Waugh Labels 141 Agia Sophia..whose whole architectural rectitude has been fatally disturbed by the reorientation of the mihrab.

1959 Chambers's Encycl. VII. 763/2 The liwan on the side nearest to Mecca was much deeper than the others and formed a sanctuary with a central niche (mihrab) in its back wall.

1988 Holiday Which? Jan. 59/2 This motif is interrupted only in the immediate vicinity of the sacred Mihrab or prayer niche, whose doorway has a magnificent mosaic arch, with inscriptions from the Koran.

2009 J. M. Bloom & S. S. Blair Grove Encycl. Islamic Art & Archit. II. 516/1 The semicircular mihrab was widely but not universally accepted.

1868 J. P. Brown Dervishes ix. 196 The Mihrâb [on a skin rug] is to see the beauty of God. The soul is the Tekbeer.

1911 G. G. Lewis Pract. Bk. Oriental Rugs x. 121 Niche or Mihrab,..the name applied to the pointed design at one end of a prayer rug.

1931 A. U. Dilley Oriental Rugs & Carpets viii. 201 Above this field is either one large prayer niche (called a mihrab), shaped like a tent, or a row of miniature prayer niches.

1963 tr. I. Schlosser European & Oriental Rugs & Carpets 28 The mihrab, at first curved, later became steep and pointed... Scrolling stems with large flowers, or small branches..fill the border, the spandrels, and the cross panel which is usually above the mihrab.

1990 Antique Collector Dec. 70/3 The prayer niche or mihrab is very subtly drawn at the top of the field and the main ivory coloured border is clearly drawn with so-called ‘animal head’ medallions all round.

2008 J. B. Nici Barron's AP Art Hist. x. 181 Elaborate prayer rugs, often bearing the mihrab motif, are placed on mosque floors.