lazaretto

American  

[laz-uh-ret-oh] / ˌlæz əˈrɛt oʊ /

Also lazaret,

noun

plural

lazarettos

1. a hospital for those affected with contagious diseases, especially leprosy.

2. a building or a ship set apart for quarantine purposes.

3. Also called glory hole.  Nautical. a small storeroom within the hull of a ship, especially one at the extreme stern.

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lazaretto British  

/ ˌlæzəˈrɛt, ˌlæzəˈrɛtəʊ /

noun

1. Also called: glory hole.  nautical a small locker at the stern of a boat or a storeroom between decks of a ship

2. Also called: lazar house.   pesthouse.  (formerly) a hospital for persons with infectious diseases, esp leprosy

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Etymology

Origin of lazaretto

1540–50; < Upper Italian ( Venetian ) lazareto, blend of lazzaro lazar and Nazareto popular name of a hospital maintained in Venice by the Church of Santa Maria di Nazaret

Example Sentences

In the Philadelphia area, a gracious lazaretto in the Georgian style was inaugurated beside the Delaware River six years after an outburst of yellow fever in 1793 claimed the life of one in 10 residents.

From New York Times • Feb. 23, 2021

It’s also likely that if you’ve never heard of Bruce Springsteen — in whatever dark-ops lazaretto you might’ve been held captive in for four decades — you might not pick up this book at all.

From New York Times • Sep. 22, 2016

A lazaretto is a medical quarantine, traditionally occupied by contagious sea dogs returned from voyage.

From The Guardian • Jun. 1, 2014

They went to Italy to improve his frail health, instead were taken off their ship at Livorno and quarantined in a lazaretto because yellow fever had broken out before they left Manhattan.

From Time Magazine Archive

Some have determined to give up their object altogether, but the rest of us sail to-morrow morning in a fishing-boat for the lazaretto.

From Pencillings by the Way Written During Some Years of Residence and Travel in Europe by Willis, N. Parker

Related Words

• detention