propylaeum

American  

[prop-uh-lee-uhm] / ˌprɒp əˈli əm /

noun

plural

propylaea

1. Often propylaea. a vestibule or entrance to a temple area or other enclosure, especially when elaborate or of architectural importance.

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propylaeum British  

/ ˌprɒpɪˈliːəm, ˈprɒpɪˌlɒn /

noun

1. a portico, esp one that forms the entrance to a temple

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Etymology

Origin of propylaeum

1700–10; < Latin < Greek propýlaion gateway, noun use of neuter of propýlaios before the gate, equivalent to pro- pro- ² + pýl ( ē ) gate + -aios adj. suffix

Example Sentences

Ducange explains it as “aedis sacrae propylaeum in porticus formam exstructum,” and says it was also used improperly for the sanctuary.

From Project Gutenberg

Then Terry spelled propylaeum as "pro-pileum."

From Time Magazine Archive

In 1887 appeared vol. i. for November; in 1894, vol. ii., preceded by the Martyrologium Hieronymianum by J.B. de Rossi and the abb� Louis Duchesne; in 1902, the Propylaeum ad Acta Sanctorum Novembris, comprising the Synaxarium ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae.

From Project Gutenberg

At Frankfort the dead-house occupies one of the wings of the propylaeum, which forms the main entrance to the cemetery.

From Project Gutenberg

Mabillon’s treatise was called forth by an earlier work of Daniel van Papenbroeck, the editor of the Acta Sanctorum of the Bollandists, who, with no great knowledge or experience of archives, undertook to criticize the historical value of ancient records and monastic documents, and raised wholesale suspicions as to their authenticity in his Propylaeum antiquarium circa veri ac falsi discrimen in vetustis membranis, which he printed in 1675.

From Project Gutenberg