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Showing results for "palaestra"

palaestra

American  
[puh-les-truh] / pəˈlɛs trə /

noun

  • palaestras,
    plural
  • palaestrae
    plural
  1. Greek Antiquity. palestra.


palaestra British  
/ pəˈlɛstrə, -ˈliː- /

noun

  1. (in ancient Greece or Rome) a public place devoted to the training of athletes

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of palaestra

C16: via Latin from Greek palaistra, from palaiein to wrestle


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.

See Examples For:

Provincial towns such as Bath had their thermae, heated bathing complexes with splendid indoor pools and an attached palaestra for exercising in the revered Greek style.

From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2012

For children and youths under the ephebic age there was no practical regulation of schools or palaestra by the state.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 10 "Echinoderma" to "Edward" by Various

His impassioned eloquence brought the sun-bathed palaestra before one with a magic of representment.

From Oscar Wilde, His Life and Confessions — Volume 1 by Frank Harris

Afterwards I challenged him to the palaestra; and he wrestled and closed with me several times when there was no one present; I fancied that I might succeed in this manner.

From Symposium by Benjamin Jowett

Inside a palaestra, the peristyle ought to be laid out as described above.

From The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius Pollio

In the palaestrae and circuses of the city I toiled, and in the camps no less; and in all of them I have a name, but not that of my fathers.

From Ben-Hur; a tale of the Christ by Lewis Wallace

Every rib in the round body was discernible; yet the leanness was the healthful reduction so strained after in the palaestrae.

From Ben-Hur; a tale of the Christ by Lewis Wallace

In the palaestrae he was unmatched; he played with the blue-eyed giants from the Rhine and the hornless bulls of Sarmatia as they were willow wisps.

From Ben-Hur; a tale of the Christ by Lewis Wallace

Next, although the building of palaestrae is not usual in Italy, I think it best to set forth the traditional way, and to show how they are constructed among the Greeks.

From The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius Pollio

The exercises in the spacious palaestrae had small interest for him; there was always such evident rancor between the factions Blue and Green.

From The Prince of India — Volume 01 by Lewis Wallace

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