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

See Examples For:

velarium velaria

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

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

From Oscar Wilde by Leonard Cresswell Ingleby

The velarium, spread over the cypress avenue, was drawn back, and torches were brought.

From Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert

At the top, on the exterior, may be seen the remains of the consoles which sustained the velarium which was drawn over the arena to shelter the spectators from the sun or rain.

From Walks in Rome by Augustus J. C. Hare

The censers were ignited again, and the velarium was removed, for the sun had sunk now considerably.

From Quo Vadis: a narrative of the time of Nero by Jeremiah Curtin

Wool, however, was the most common material, and the velaria made in Apulia were most esteemed, on account of the whiteness of the wool.

From Museum of Antiquity A Description of Ancient Life by T. L. (Thomas Louis) Haines

Indeed the Carthaginian captives could distinguish the velaria spread over the courtyards of their houses, beyond the gulf on the slopes of Byrsa.

From Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert

Moreover, there is no reason but the existing filth why the roadways should not have translucent velaria to pull over in bright sunshine and wet weather.

From Anticipations Of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon Human life and Thought by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

The cry, swelled by every Latin tongue, shook the velaria over the consul's head.

From Ben-Hur; a tale of the Christ by Lewis Wallace