noun

• (biblical) The portable tent used before the construction of the temple, where the shekinah (presence of God) was believed to dwell.
  "[…]ſo Moſes finiſhed the worke. Then a cloud couered the Tent of the Congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. And Moſes was not able to enter into the Tent of the Congregation, becauſe the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. And when the cloud was taken vp from ouer the Tabernacle, the children of Iſrael went onward in all their iourneys: But if the cloud were not taken vp, then they iourneyed not, till the day that it was taken vp. For the cloud of the Lord was vpon the Tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the ſight of all the houſe of Iſrael, throughout all their iourneys."
• (by extension) The Jewish Temple at Jerusalem (as continuing the functions of the earlier tabernacle).
• (Roman Catholicism) A small ornamented cupboard or box used for the reserved sacrament of the Eucharist, normally located in an especially prominent place in a church.
  "The tabernacle is to be situated "in churches in a most worthy place with the greatest honor." The dignity, placing, and security of the Eucharistic tabernacle should foster adoration before the Lord really present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar."
• (originally Methodism) A temporary place of worship, especially a tent, for a tent meeting, as with a venue for revival meetings.
  "It was over these innocent necessary precautions that the local committees always showed their meanness. They liked giving over only one contribution to the evangelist, but they wanted nothing said about it till they themselves had been taken care of--till the rent of the hall or the cost of building a tabernacle, the heat, the lights, the advertising, and other expenses had been paid."

verb

• (intransitive) To dwell; to abide for a time.