impluvium
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of impluvium
1805–15; < Latin, equivalent to impluv-, base of impluere to rain (upon, into) ( im- im- 1 + pluere to rain; cf. pluvial) + -ium -ium
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Where the gift shop and other later additions now sit was once an impluvium, a Roman-era cistern that sat in a soaring 50-foot-high space that was open to the sky.
From New York Times • Apr. 11, 2023
The house possesses features that match the horizontally fluted walls, pillars, central impluvium and carved decorations observed in the architecture of ancient Benin.
From The Guardian • Mar. 18, 2016
These main streets, which ran at right angles to each other, had underground drainage made of a sunken impluvium with an outlet to carry away storm water.
From The Guardian • Mar. 18, 2016
In the centre of the peristyle was an open court, which contained the impluvium.
From Last Days of Pompeii by Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
Sometimes, the roofs rested on columns planted at the four corners of the impluvium: then, the opening enlarged, and the atrium became a tetrastyle.
From The Wonders of Pompeii by Monnier, Marc
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
