Operative Masonry

English

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɑpərətɪv ˈmeɪsənri/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɒpərətɪv ˈmeɪsənri/

Proper noun

Operative Masonry

1. (Freemasonry, archaic) Practical masonry, i.e. construction with stone and other materials, understood as a coherent and ancient system contrasted with Speculative Masonry or Freemasonry.

   Coordinate term: Speculative Masonry

   • 1878 February 16, Rob Morris, “The Holy Land and the Temple”, in The Freemason’s Chronicle, volume 7, number 164, page 116:

     But you and I, my brother, are taught that Operative Masonry is but the outward form, the type, the model of speculative Masonry; and that King Solomon’s Temple, with all its particulars, was the antitype of the grand world-wide system which we call Freemasonry.