Dais

Dais (Old Fr. deis, dois, from Lat. discus, 'a quoit,' 'platter;' in late Lat. 'a table'), a term used with considerable latitude by medieval writers. Its most usual significations are the following: (1) A canopy over an altar, shrine, font, throne, stall, chair, statue, or the like; the term being applied to the canopy without regard to the materials of which it was composed, which might be cloth, wood, stone, metal, or other substance; (2) the chief seat at the high table in a hall, with the canopy covering it; (3) the high table itself (4) the raised portion of the floor, or estrade, on which the high table stood, and which divided the upper from the lower portion of the hall; (5) a cloth of state for covering a throne or table.