palestra

or pa·laes·tra

[puh-les-truh]

noun, plural pa·les·tras, pa·les·trae [puh-les-tree] /pəˈlɛs tri/. Greek Antiquity.

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

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for palestra

Contemporary Examples of palestra

PTL (Italian, n.)—the Italian translation for gym (palestra), tanning (tintarella), and laundry (lavanderia).
‘Jersey Shore’ Guide to Italian
Jaimie Etkin
August 4, 2011

Historical Examples of palestra

This wasnt a lovers bower; it was only a palestra, or an observatory.
Nothing But the Truth
Frederic S. Isham
But when we leave the child "free as a man" in the palestra of his own intelligence, his type changes entirely.
Spontaneous Activity in Education
Maria Montessori
The Spartan maidens were required to exercise in the palestra, almost naked, in the presence of men and strangers.
The Trial of Jesus from a Lawyer's Standpoint, Vol. II (of II)
Walter M. Chandler
For many things there be, which we must conceit and apprehend, as though we had had to do with an antagonist at the palestra.
Meditations
Marcus Aurelius

British Dictionary definitions for palestra

palestra

noun plural -tras or -trae (-triː)

the usual US spelling of palaestra

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

Word Origin and History for palestra

early 15c., from Old French palestre (12c.), from Latin palaestra, from Greek palaistra "gymnasium, public place for exercise," originally "wrestling school," from palaiein "to wrestle" (of unknown origin) + -tra, suffix denoting place.