palestra

American  

[puh-les-truh] / pəˈlɛs trə /

Or palaestra

noun

Greek Antiquity.

plural

palestras, palestrae

1. a public place for training or exercise in wrestling or athletics.

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palestra British  

/ pəˈlɛstrə, -ˈliː- /

noun

1. the usual US spelling of palaestra

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Etymology

Origin of palestra

1375–1425; late Middle English palestre < Latin palaestra a wrestling school, place of exercise < Greek palaístra, equivalent to palais-, variant stem of palaíein to wrestle + -tra feminine noun suffix of place

Example Sentences

The apartment at the entrance of the baths, or in the palestra, where one stripped; a dressing room.

From Project Gutenberg

But when we leave the child "free as a man" in the palestra of his own intelligence, his type changes entirely.

From Project Gutenberg

Afterward I challenged him to the palestra; and he wrestled and closed with me several times alone; I fancied that I might succeed in this way.

From Project Gutenberg

The statue represents an athlete rubbing his arm with a flesh scraper to remove the oil and sand of the palestra, or exercising ground.

From Project Gutenberg

For many things there be, which we must conceit and apprehend, as though we had had to do with an antagonist at the palestra.

From Project Gutenberg