cryptoporticus

American  

[krip-tuh-pawr-ti-kuhs, -pohr-] / ˌkrɪp təˈpɔr tɪ kəs, -ˈpoʊr- /

noun

PLURAL

cryptoporticus

1. a covered passage, as one underground, lighted on one side.

2. a portico at the entrance to a crypt.

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Etymology

Origin of cryptoporticus

1675–85; < Latin: covered passage; crypto-, portico

Example Sentences

The DNA testing could “determine the degree of kinship between some of the victims,” he said, like the two girls found hugging each other in the so-called House of the Cryptoporticus.

From New York Times

He could even summon a classical rationale for underground living spaces: “The Romans did it. They had a thing called the cryptoporticus, so you could keep cool in the summer.”

From The New Yorker

Last week one of the first houses to be restored with the European funds, the so-called House of the Cryptoporticus, officially reopened to the public.

From New York Times

The principal remains, which are now exhibited by the dim torch of a solitary cicerone, are those of nine chambers, extending for 300 feet, and having on the north a kind of corridor, or cryptoporticus, whose vault is covered with paintings of birds, griffins, and flowers, &c.

From Project Gutenberg

In 1907 excavations on the south side of the palace showed that the plan was still incomplete, and a southern cryptoporticus, and outside it a large south-west building, probably an official residence, were discovered.

From Project Gutenberg