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hypogeum

[hahy-puh-jee-uh m, hip-uh-]
noun, plural hy·po·ge·a [hahy-puh-jee-uh, hip-uh-] /ˌhaɪ pəˈdʒi ə, ˌhɪp ə-/.
  1. Ancient Architecture. the underground part of a building, as a vault.
  2. an underground burial chamber.

Origin of hypogeum

1700–10; < Latin hypogēum < Greek hypógeion underground chamber (neuter of hypógeios underground), equivalent to hypo- hypo- + gê earth + -ion neuter adj. suffix
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for hypogeum

Historical Examples of hypogeum

  • In two of the largest chambers in the hypogeum the roof and walls are still decorated with designs in red paint.

  • We shall call attention, however, to a hypogeum at Gizeh, which is numbered 81 in Lepsius's map of that tomb-field.

  • Verily you would think that the painter of these figures of the shades had only just quitted the hypogeum.

  • That moment an old man, wearing a hooded mantle but with a bare head, issued from the hypogeum.

    Quo Vadis

    Henryk Sienkiewicz

  • Here and there were separate monuments, and in the centre was the entrance to the hypogeum itself, or crypt.

    Quo Vadis

    Henryk Sienkiewicz

British Dictionary definitions for hypogeum

hypogeum

noun plural -gea (-ˈdʒiːə)
  1. an underground vault, esp one used for burials

Word Origin for hypogeum

C18: from Latin, from Greek hupogeion; see hypogeal
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012