n. pl. me·chi·tzas or me·chi·tzot (-tsôt) Judaism 1. A partition erected in the seating section of an Orthodox synagogue to prevent the mixing of men and women. 2. The structure defining the boundary of an eruv. [Mishnaic Hebrew məḥiṣṣâ, partition, from Hebrew ḥāṣaṣ, to divide; see x̣ṣṣ in the Appendix of Semitic roots.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.