piscina

American  

[pi-sahy-nuh, pi-see-] / pɪˈsaɪ nə, pɪˈsi- /

noun

Ecclesiastical.

• piscinae
  plural

1. a basin with a drain used for certain ablutions, now generally in the sacristy.

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piscina British  

/ pɪˈsiːnə /

noun

1. RC Church a stone basin, with a drain, in a church or sacristy where water used at Mass is poured away

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• piscinal
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• piscinae
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of piscina

1590–1600; < Medieval Latin, special use of Latin piscīna a fish pond, swimming pool, equivalent to pisc ( is ) fish + -īna, feminine of -īnus -ine ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

piscina piscinae

The niches over the altar have been hacked level with the wall, and the little pillar piscina is also defaced.

From Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Wells A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal See by Percy Dearmer

The water used was then cast into the piscina.

From Mellifont Abbey, Co. Louth Its Ruins and Associations, a Guide and Popular History by Anonymous

Behind it is a wall memorial to their father, and to the side is a piscina, which has at the back of it an old fresco, probably of the fourteenth century.

From Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Lichfield A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Espicopal See by A. B. Clifton

A very fine one consists of a chamber with an arched recess like a small chancel, and a niche so resembling a piscina at one side that one involuntarily looks for the altar.

From Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan, Volume II (of 2) Including a Summer in the Upper Karun Region and a Visit to the Nestorian Rayahs by Isabella L. (Isabella Lucy) Bird

Both walls have an arcading of cinque-foil pattern; and the double piscina and the graduated sedilia are of no less merit.

From Highways and Byways in Cambridge and Ely by Edward Conybeare

Oysters from the Lucrine Lake were in great demand; snails were fattened in ponds for cooking, while the villas of the rich had their piscinae filled with fresh or salt-water fish.

From Beacon Lights of History, Volume 03 Ancient Achievements by John Lord

Inlets and creeks, which wear even now an artificial air, mark the site of piscinae and refreshing lakes.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 47, September, 1861 by Various

Snails were fed in ponds for the purpose, while the villas of the rich had their piscinae filled with fresh or salt-water fish.

From The Old Roman World, : the Grandeur and Failure of Its Civilization. by John Lord

Before the Reformation there certainly were two altars on that side, one at each extremity, where piscinae were discovered during the restorations of 1832.

From Bell's Cathedrals: Southwark Cathedral Formerly the Collegiate Church of St. Saviour, Otherwise St. Mary Overie. A Short History and Description of the Fabric, with Some Account of the College and the See by George Worley

There are within it two piscinae and two aumbries at different levels, indicating, no doubt, an alteration of level in the altar itself during the period that this chantry was in use.

From Bell's Cathedrals: A Short Account of Romsey Abbey A Description of the Fabric and Notes on the History of the Convent of Ss. Mary & Ethelfleda by Rev. Thomas Perkins

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