Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In ancient Roman houses, a basin to receive the rain-water, situated in the middle of the atrium or hall, below the compluvium or open space in the roof. See
atrium and compluvium. - noun Same as
compluvium .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Arch.) In Roman dwellings, a cistern or tank, set in the atrium or peristyle to recieve the water from the roof, by means of the
compluvium ; generally made ornamental with flowers and works of art around its birm.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun architecture A low basin in the center of a household
atrium , into which rainwater flowed down from the roof through thecompluvium .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Beyond the impluvium is the place of a small altar for the worship of the Lares.
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Through this light and air made their way down to the apartment, the rainfall from the roofs and opening falling into a marble tank, called the impluvium, below the level of the floor, which was paved with squares of coloured marble.
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a large opening broke into a thousand sparks on a fountain in a quadrangular little basin, called the impluvium, which was in the middle to receive rain falling through the opening during bad weather; this was surrounded by anemones and lilies.
Quo Vadis: a narrative of the time of Nero Henryk Sienkiewicz 1881
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The main door usually opened onto a vestibule—the spaces giving on to the street were often rented to shopkeepers—leading to the central atrium, where the residents greeted guests and tended to business matters; the walls were frescoed, the floors paved with terracotta or mosaics, the roof had an opening that allowed rainwater to collect in an impluvium , a basin on the floor that fed an underground cistern.
The Gracious Art of Living Judy Fayard 2011
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Thence he passed into a huge atrium whose impluvium pool beneath the compluvium in the roof shimmered mirrorlike from an overhead sun.
Antony and Cleopatra Colleen McCullough 2007
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Thence he passed into a huge atrium whose impluvium pool beneath the compluvium in the roof shimmered mirrorlike from an overhead sun.
Antony and Cleopatra Colleen McCullough 2007
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- There are nine wide pedestrians in the impluvium.
hamletwildie Diary Entry hamletwildie 2005
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After we had already excavated the southern part of Atrium XLV with impluvium in 2005 and 2006, we reached the purple schist pavement now all over the room.
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View of Atrium XLV, with the impluvium, nymphaeum, and lime kiln from the south
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The heart of this part of the house was a rectangular atrium with impluvium and private nymphaeum (Room XLV) entered via Corridor LIX (not fully investigated).
yarb commented on the word impluvium
"...a snapshot of loquat trees and a dirty impluvium."
- W.M. Spackman, An Armful of Warm Girl
January 2, 2012