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seraglio - 5 dictionary results

se⋅ragl⋅io

[si-ral-yoh, -rahl-]
–noun, plural -ragl⋅ios.
1. the part of a Muslim house or palace in which the wives and concubines are secluded; harem.
2. a Turkish palace, esp. of the sultan.
Also called se⋅rail [suh-rahy, -rahyl, -reyl] .


Origin:
1575–85; < It serraglio < Pers sarāy palace; sense development in It perh. influenced by serrare to lock up
se·ra·glio   (sə-rāl'yō, -räl'-)   
n.   pl. se·ra·glios
  1. A large harem.
  2. A sultan's palace. Also called serai.

[Italian serraglio, enclosure, seraglio, probably partly from Vulgar Latin *serraculum, enclosure (from *serrāre, to lace up, from Latin serāre, from sera, door-bar) and partly from Turkish saray, palace (from Persian sarāy, inn; see terə-2 in Indo-European roots).]

Seraglio

Se*ragl"io\, n. [It. serraglio, originally, an inclosure of palisades, afterwards also, a palace, seraglio (by confusion with Per. ser[=a]["i]a a palace, an entirely different word), fr. serrare to shut, fr. LL. serra a bar for fastening doors, L. sera. See Serry, Series.]

1. An inclosure; a place of separation. [Obs.]

I went to the Ghetto, where the Jews dwell as in a suburb, by themselves. I passed by the piazza Judea, where their seraglio begins. --Evelyn.

2. The palace of the Grand Seignior, or Turkish sultan, at Constantinople, inhabited by the sultan himself, and all the officers and dependents of his court. In it are also kept the females of the harem.

3. A harem; a place for keeping wives or concubines; sometimes, loosely, a place of licentious pleasure; a house of debauchery.

seraglio 
"harem," also the name of a former palace of the sultan in Istanbul, 1581, from It. seraglio, alteration of Turk. saray "palace, court," from Pers. sara'i "palace, inn," from Iranian base *thraya- "to protect" (cf. Avestan thrayeinti "they protect"). The It. word probably reflects folk etymology influence of serraglio "enclosure, cage," from M.L. serraculum "bung, stopper" (see serried).

Seraglio

in Istanbul, collection of classical antiquities, manuscripts, ceramics, armour, textiles, and other artifacts, housed in the sultans' Seraglio (Topkapi Saray). It was established in 1892 and later extended

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