velarium

[ vuh-lair-ee-uhm ]

noun,plural ve·lar·i·a [vuh-lair-ee-uh]. /vəˈlɛər i ə/. Roman Antiquity.
  1. an awning drawn over a theater or amphitheater as a protection from rain or the sun.

Origin of velarium

1
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

Words Nearby velarium

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How to use velarium in a sentence

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

    Salammbo | Gustave Flaubert
  • The vault, some thirty feet high, formed a sort of azure velarium bordered with long yellow palm-leaves.

  • A gigantic purple velarium gave shelter from the rays of the sun.

    Quo Vadis | Henryk Sienkiewicz
  • The censers were ignited again, and the velarium was removed, for the sun had sunk now considerably.

    Quo Vadis | Henryk Sienkiewicz
  • He raised his eyes then to the opening of the amphitheatre, over which night had begun to extend its velarium dotted with stars.

    Quo Vadis | Henryk Sienkiewicz

British Dictionary definitions for velarium

velarium

/ (vɪˈlɛərɪəm) /


nounplural -laria (-ˈlɛərɪə)
  1. an awning used to protect the audience in ancient Roman theatres and amphitheatres

Origin of velarium

1
C19: from Latin, from vēlāre to cover

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