columbarium
[kol-uh m-bair-ee-uh m]
- a sepulchral vault or other structure with recesses in the walls to receive the ashes of the dead.
- any one of these recesses.
- columbary.
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Origin of columbarium
1840–50; < Latin: literally, a nesting box for pigeons, equivalent to columb(a) pigeon, dove + -ārium -ary
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for columbarium
Historical Examples
On the road to Assiut is a fine Roman columbarium or dove-cote.
In the rectory orchard close by is the "columbarium," or all that is left of it.
Seaward SussexEdric Holmes
There is the Roman columbarium, within the Etruscan site; there are the Etruscan tombs bored deep in all the surrounding hills.
Studies of Travel: ItalyEdward A. Freeman
In these gardens an interesting discovery has just been made; an extensive burial place, or columbarium, in singular preservation.
The Diary of an EnnuyeAnna Brownell Jameson
Columbarium means not only a dovecote, but also a sepulchre, with niches for urns.
Jerusalem Explored, Volume I--TextErmete Pierotti
columbarium
- another name for a dovecote
- a vault having niches for funeral urns
- a hole in a wall into which a beam is inserted
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Word Origin
C18: from Latin, from columba dove
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for columbarium
n.
"subterranean sepulchre in ancient Roman places with niches for urns holding remains," neuter of Latin columbarius, "dove-cote" (so called from resemblance), literally "pertaining to doves;" from columba "dove." Literal sense of "dove-cote" is attested in English from 1881.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper