The correct answer is number j. As I did no editing*, I have no editorial comments (but see * below).

The winner by a mudslide is Owlbow, who collected three(3) votes and also picked number j; honourary mention to mav for also picking j.

a) a kind of zigzag patterned cloth traditional to the Afghanistan/Pakistan region. Different patterns 'belong' to different tribal groups and before tourism took hold it was possible for an expert to identify the native village of a local from the pattern of his/her clothing. [Bridget]

b) a Sumerian tower built of clay bricks [TEd] Sparteye, belM

c) The narrow bridge over which one must pass to get to heaven in Zoroastrian belief. [Bingley] consuelo

d) a small room in a mosque where sacred items for use in worship are kept [consuelo]

e) a small Babylonian shrine, located in an individual home [wofa] Bingley

f) That which remains after a natural disaster/catastrophe. [musick] Capfka

g) From the ancient Persian, meaning system of knowledge (literally, ‘that which is known’). Michael Foucault translated the term as ‘mathesis’ to describe this aspect of Thomas Kuhn’s description of epistemological ‘paradigms’. [mav]

h) a ritualistic group avoidance of a society member for the purpose of sanction; a shunning. [Sparteye]

i) A James Hogan Scifi robot from the planet Enron. Obviously his cult status among afficionados is due to his job as the sole impregnator of the nubile females of the planet where all males are sterile and have sexual interest only in themselves. [milum] Wordwind, themilum (naturalement)

j) 1. personal dignity or honor 2. the power of commanding admiration [Dictionary Game] mav, Owlbow

k) the knot on the tassle of a fez. [Wordwind] musick, etaoin

l) interj. fr. Gael. eoisaidht, a command given to a sheep dog to steer the sheep to the left. [Faldage] ASp, Bridget

m) A monolith, in shape like a miniature ziggurat three to five meters high, raised to honor a great personage (f. Assyr. Izzattura: pyramidal). [dxb] TEd

n) A tang or hollow metal dowel used in joining masonry to brick and cinder block. Aids in relieving motion stress resulting from mortar shrinkage during curing and to offset load strain. [Owlbow] WO'N, wofa, Vernon

o) n. Vestment worn by the groom in an Ashkenaze wedding ceremony. [ASp]

p) [Arabic] the handleless coffee cup which fits within a zarf [ron o.] Faldage

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* dxb sent me a much longer original entry, for which I chastised him online during the prelims. I received several PMs of concern that I was referring to their entries. in the event, dxb suggested cutting short his entry, which I did. herewith, then, is the offending entry in its enormity:

Izzat – A monolith, in shape like a miniature ziggurat three to five meters high, raised to honor a great personage (f. Assyr. Izzattura: pyramidal). Generally found in groups of fifty or more carefully arranged in square patterns with each izzat at an intersect of a grid laid out within the square according to astronomical rules. The central izzat, usually the largest, represents the most prominent honoree surrounded, working outward from the center, by increasingly lesser lights from the same historical period forming a sort of honor guard. Izzat quarries, found all over ancient Messopotamia, were the source of the rock used to carve out the monoliths and ancient texts show that land-owners with such rock on their property were considered fortunate to be granted an “izzat right” by the emperor of the day. Izzats are also found, inexplicably, on the Spanish island of Menorca where they are known as izzatsos.

the gravamen of my complaint pointed to dxb's ultimate pun, which I had planned to incorporate in my bogus def'n; ultimately I also thought better of this. (hi TEd!)