megaron

[ meg-uh-ron ]

noun,plural meg·a·ra [meg-er-uh], /ˈmɛg ər ə/, meg·a·rons.(in pre-Hellenic Greek architecture)
  1. a building or semi-independent unit of a building, generally used as a living apartment and typically having a square or broadly rectangular principal chamber with a porch, often of columns in antis, and sometimes an antichamber or other small compartments.

Origin of megaron

1
First recorded in 1875–80, megaron is from the Greek word mégaron (in Homer) the principal living quarters of a palace

Words Nearby megaron

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use megaron in a sentence

  • They sleep mucho domou; that is, not in a separate recess in the house, but in a recess of the great hall or megaron.

    Homer and His Age | Andrew Lang
  • There can be little doubt that this circle indicates the position of the hearth in the centre of the megaron.

    Storyology | Benjamin Taylor
  • In the oldest time it was not only symbolically but actually the centre of the house, and especially of the megaron.

    Storyology | Benjamin Taylor
  • But if doma here be not equivalent to megaron, what room can it possibly be?

    Homer and His Age | Andrew Lang

British Dictionary definitions for megaron

megaron

/ (ˈmɛɡəˌrɒn) /


nounplural -ra (-rə)
  1. a tripartite rectangular room containing a central hearth surrounded by four pillars, found in Bronze Age Greece and Asia Minor

Origin of megaron

1
from Greek, literally: hall, from megas large

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012