Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A stone basin with a drain for carrying away the water used in ceremonial ablutions.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A basin or tank, usually ornamental, as for a fountain or a bath; sometimes, a large shallow vase for ornamental fishes or aquatic plants; also, any tank or cistern of moderate size.
- noun Eccles., a stone basin, in old churches generally established within a canopied niche placed close to the altar, used to receive the water in which the priest washes his hands before the celebration of the eucharist, and washes the chalice after the celebration. Now rarely used in the sanctuary, but often in sacristies.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Arch.) A niche near the altar in a church, containing a small basin for rinsing altar vessels.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A drained
basin near a church'saltar for thedisposal of water fromliturgical ablutions .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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She passed over a large square opening and wondered if it could be a fish tank, what the ancients called a piscina.
SERPENT CLIVE CUSSLER 2000
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She passed over a large square opening and wondered if it could be a fish tank, what the ancients called a piscina.
SERPENT CLIVE CUSSLER 2000
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On the large tablet above the piscina is a punning motto, _Temperantia te Temperatrice_, the person commemorated being Richard Tryce, 1767.
The Cathedral Church of Peterborough A Description Of Its Fabric And A Brief History Of The Episcopal See W.D. Sweeting
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The overflow from the octagonal basin passes into a long narrow piscina, which is entered by steps at either end.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 7: Gregory XII-Infallability 1840-1916 1913
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On the south we see the piscina, which is contained in a beautifully carved niche -- a hollow basin with a stone drain, wherein the priest washed his hands before consecrating the elements, and poured the water from the rinsed chalice.
English Villages 1892
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In the hollow of what I have called the piscina (though it proved to be a magic seat) lay an offering of green cocoa-nuts; and when you looked up you found the boughs of the tree to be laden with strange fruit: palm-branches elaborately plaited, and beautiful models of canoes, finished and rigged to the least detail.
In the South Seas Robert Louis Stevenson 1872
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Sometimes a piscina was a subsequent addition to a structure of early date, as in the old and now demolished church of Stretton-upon-Dunsmore,
The Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture, Elucidated by Question and Answer, 4th ed. Matthew Holbeche Bloxam 1846
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En le ano 1955, estavamos viviendo en Barranquilla, pues como ninos, nos gustava la piscina en la terraza, que tenia por supuesto la salidad del agua a los quatro lados, y salian de las bocas de structuras de leones.
Global Voices in English » Colombia: Living with Flooding in Barranquilla 2009
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Todo lo que teniamos que hacer era cerrar una, o dos de las salidas y la piscina se incrementaba.
Global Voices in English » Colombia: Living with Flooding in Barranquilla 2009
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By Casa lujosa con piscina frontal | Perfecto Ambiente on September 15, 2009 at 6: 01 pm
she commented on the word piscina
A fishpond; or, a stone basin for draining water used in Mass, found chiefly in Roman Catholic churches (including some pre-Reformation churches now used for Protestant worship).
August 3, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word piscina
In castle architecture, a basin with a drain hole for a priest to wash his hands or vessels, usually set in a niche.
August 26, 2008
john commented on the word piscina
Means "swimming pool" in Spanish.
August 26, 2008