pulvinar

[puhl-vahy-ner]

noun, plural pul·vi·nar·i·a

[puhl-vuh-nair-ee-uh] /ˌpʌl vəˈnɛər i ə/.

(in ancient Rome)
1. a cushioned couch kept in readiness for any visitation of a god.
2. a cushioned seat at a circus.
Also called pulvinus. (on an Ionic capital) either of two convex forms having on their ends two of the volutes.

adjective

pulvinate(def 3).

Origin of pulvinar

1590–1600; (noun) < Latin pulvīnar cushioned couch, equivalent to pulvīn(us) cushion + -ar, shortening of -āre, neuter of āris -ar¹; (adj.) pulvin(us) + -ar¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for pulvinar

Historical Examples of pulvinar

But I do not approve of his witnessing the Circensian games from the Pulvinar.
The Lives Of The Twelve Caesars, Complete
C. Suetonius Tranquillus
And upon taking his wife again, after the divorce, he declared by proclamation, "that he had recalled her to his pulvinar."
The Lives Of The Twelve Caesars, Complete
C. Suetonius Tranquillus

pulvinar in Medicine

pulvinar

[pŭl-vī′nər]

The posterior extremity of the thalamus, forming a cushionlike prominence over the posterior aspect of the internal capsule.