velarium

American  

[vuh-lair-ee-uhm] / vəˈlɛər i əm /

noun

Roman Antiquity.

velaria plural

1. an awning drawn over a theater or amphitheater as a protection from rain or the sun.

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velarium British  

/ vɪˈlɛərɪəm /

noun

1. an awning used to protect the audience in ancient Roman theatres and amphitheatres

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• velaria
  plural

Etymology

Origin of velarium

1825–35; < Latin vēlārium (a word known only from a passage in Juvenal; the intended sense may be “curtain” rather than “awning”); see velum, -ary

Example Sentences

In the cloth velarium used by Roman emperors to cover the Colosseum, Stone found his solution to roofing the largest free-span circular building ever erected.

From Time Magazine Archive

Some at the very summit of the building, with much shouting and pulling of ropes, were stretching the great velarium or awning, as a protection from the rays of the sun.

From Valeria The Martyr of the Catacombs by Withrow, William Henry

Where the huge velarium that Nero had stretched across the Colosseum at Rome, that Titan sail of purple on which was represented the starry sky, and Apollo driving a chariot drawn by white, gilt-reined steeds?

From The Picture of Dorian Gray by Wilde, Oscar

The medusoids have no true velum; in some cases a structure more or less resembling this organ, termed a velarium, is present, permeated by endodermal canals.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 6 "Cockaigne" to "Columbus, Christopher" by Various

There was no roof, shelter from sun or rain being given by a movable awning called the velarium.

From The Mother of St. Nicholas A Story of Duty and Peril by Balfour, Grant