parvis
Americannoun
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a vacant enclosed area in front of a church.
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a colonnade or portico in front of a church.
noun
Etymology
Origin of parvis
1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French; Old French pare ( v ) is < Late Latin paradīsus church courtyard, originally the one before St. Peter's, Rome. See paradise
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.
In Paris, they marred the city’s famous public spaces, cluttering the Esplanade des Invalides, the Place Vendôme, the banks of the Seine, and the parvis in front of Notre Dame.
From Slate ● Mar. 30, 2023
So, decentralized it is, and multi-disciplinary: a studio and an auditorium for movies, dance and other performances; a restaurant, and a large parvis as in Paris, currently planted with saplings.
From New York Times ● May 12, 2010
We followed the fluttering robes; we passed out once more into the sunlit parvis.
From In and out of Three Normady Inns by Dodd, Anna Bowman
One end of it opened on the parvis of the Cathedral; the other and quieter end appeared to abut on the west gate of the town.
From Historical Romances: Under the Red Robe, Count Hannibal, A Gentleman of France by Weyman, Stanley J.
The next Orders were for re-casting all the damag'd brass Cannon which the Enemy had left; upon every one of which was, by order, a Sun eclyps'd, with this Motto under it: Magna parvis obscurantur.
From Military Memoirs of Capt. George Carleton by Defoe, Daniel
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
