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 the compluvium.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin impluvium, from impluit ("rains upon")

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Examples

  • Beyond the impluvium is the place of a small altar for the worship of the Lares.

    Museum of Antiquity A Description of Ancient Life

  • 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.

    Beric the Briton : a Story of the Roman Invasion 1867

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • - There are nine wide pedestrians in the impluvium.

    hamletwildie Diary Entry hamletwildie 2005

  • 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.

    Interactive Dig Sagalassos - Urban Mansion Report 5 2003

  • View of Atrium XLV, with the impluvium, nymphaeum, and lime kiln from the south

    Interactive Dig Sagalassos - Urban Mansion Report 5 2003

  • 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).

    Interactive Dig Sagalassos - Domestic Area Report 2 2003

Comments

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  • "...a snapshot of loquat trees and a dirty impluvium."

    - W.M. Spackman, An Armful of Warm Girl

    January 2, 2012