loculus

American  

[lok-yuh-luhs] / ˈlɒk jə ləs /

noun

• loculi
  plural

1. Biology. locule.

2. Ecclesiastical. a compartment in an altar, in which relics are kept.

3. a recess in an ancient catacomb or tomb, where a body or cinerary urn was placed.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• interloculus
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• loculi
  plural

Etymology

Origin of loculus

1855–60; < New Latin, special use of Latin loculus, diminutive of locus place; see locus, -ule

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

loculus loculi

Unilocular, ū-ni-lok′ū-lar, adj. having but one loculus or cavity, as the heart of an amphioxus.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

An ordinary grave was called locus or loculus, if it contained a single body; or bisomum, trisomum, or quadrisomum, if it contained two, three, or four.

From Walks in Rome by Augustus J. C. Hare

Interment in the wall-recess or loculus, though infinitely the most common, was not the only mode employed in the catacombs.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 5 "Cat" to "Celt" by Various

The symbol of a foot was carved on the marble slab that closed the loculus or tomb, to indicate that it was the purchased property of the person who reposed in it.

From Roman Mosaics Or, Studies in Rome and Its Neighbourhood by Hugh Macmillan

The picture we are about to examine is found over a loculus or grave in this cemetery of Priscilla.

From The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, February, 1865 by Various

They are now almost obliterated by being turned into sheep-folds; the roofs have fallen in, and only one preserves the traces of two loculi.

From The Land of Midian — Volume 2 by Sir Richard Francis Burton

The bodies were laid in loculi, sometimes in two or three tiers, the loculi being filled in with earth and stone.

From Outlines of Greek and Roman Medicine by James Sands Elliott

The ovary is partially adherent, is surmounted by a style, and has two or three loculi with an axile placenta, to which several small curved ovules are attached.

From Vegetable Teratology An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants by Maxwell T. Masters

The loculi here also are set endways to the passage.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 5 "Cat" to "Celt" by Various

The anthers are minute, with the two cells or loculi remarkably distinct; they contain very little pollen in comparison with those of the perfect flowers.

From The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species by Charles Darwin