serdab

American  

[ser-dahb] / sərˈdɑb /

noun

1. a chamber inside a mastaba containing a statue of the deceased.

---

serdab British  

/ ˈsɜːdæb, səˈdæb /

noun

1. a secret chamber in an ancient Egyptian tomb

---

Etymology

Origin of serdab

1835–45; < Arabic sirdāb underground chamber < Persian sardāb cellar for ice, equivalent to sard cold + āb water

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

serdab

There, in the very spot where I had expected to find it, was the opening of a serdab.

From The Jewel of Seven Stars by Bram Stoker

The objects placed in the serdab, in the passages, and in the sepulchral chamber, have suffered less from the ravages of time and the hand of man.

From Manual of Egyptian Archaeology and Guide to the Study of Antiquities in Egypt by G. (Gaston) Maspero

During the Ancient Empire, the funerary portrait statues were always immured in the serdab.

From Manual of Egyptian Archaeology and Guide to the Study of Antiquities in Egypt by G. (Gaston) Maspero

As for the figures which were merely painted on the walls of the chapel, they detached themselves, and assumed material bodies inside the serdab.

From Manual of Egyptian Archaeology and Guide to the Study of Antiquities in Egypt by G. (Gaston) Maspero

To this hiding-place archaeologists have given the Arab name of "serdab."

From Manual of Egyptian Archaeology and Guide to the Study of Antiquities in Egypt by G. (Gaston) Maspero