Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small cave or cavern.
  • noun An artificial structure or excavation made to resemble a cave or cavern.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A subterranean cavity; a natural cavern, or an ornamented excavation or construction more or less remotely resembling a natural cave, made for shade or recreation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A natural covered opening in the earth; a cave; also, an artificial recess, cave, or cavernlike apartment.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A small cave.
  • noun An artificial cavern-like retreat.
  • noun A Marian shrine, usually built in a cavern-like structure.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a small cave (usually with attractive features)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration of Italian grotta, from Vulgar Latin *grupta, from Latin crypta, vault; see crypt.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Italian grotta, from Vulgar Latin grupta, from Classical Latin crypta; see crypt.

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