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Webster 1913 Edition

(na̤′mȧ-ky̆)

Noun.

[L.

naumachia

, Gr.

ναυμαχία

;

ναῦσ

ship +

μάχη

fight, battle,

μάχεσθαι

to fight.]

A naval battle; esp., a mock sea fight put on by the ancient Romans.

(Rom. Antiq.)

A show or spectacle representing a sea fight; also, a place for such exhibitions.

Noun.

Among the ancient Romans, a show or spectacle representing a sea-fight.

The place where these shows were exhibited.

naumachy ‎(plural naumachies)

(obsolete) A place built to stage a mock sea-battle, or the show performed therein. [17th c.]
- 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.2.4:
  Lacedæmonians held their public banquets […], plays, naumachies, places for sea-fights, theatres, amphitheatres able to contain 70,000 men, wherein they had several delightsome shows to exhilarate the people […].