Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Piazza
Pi-az′za
,Noun.
pl.
Piazzas
(#)
. [It., place, square, market place, L.
platea
street, courtyard. See Place
.] An open square in a European town, especially an Italian town; hence
(Arch.)
, an arcaded and roofed gallery; a portico. In the United States the word is popularly applied to a veranda. We walk by the obelisk, and meditate in
piazzas
. Jer. Taylor.
Webster 1828 Edition
Piazza
PIAZ'ZA
,Noun.
Definition 2024
piazza
piazza
English
Noun
piazza (plural piazzas or piazze)
- A public square, especially in an Italian city.
- (US dialects, chiefly New England, dated) A veranda; a porch.
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
- Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path […]. It twisted and turned, […] and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. And, back of the lawn, was a big, old-fashioned house, with piazzas stretching in front of it, and all blazing with lights.
-
- (Britain) A roofed gallery or arcade (for example around a public square or in front of a building).
Usage notes
- The plural piazze is used especially when the word refers to public squares in Italy, and plural piazzas when it refers to porches.
- In some Southern dialects, the variant form pizer is used.
References
- Thomas Durant Visser, Porches of North America (2012, ISBN 1611682207)
Italian
Etymology
From Latin platea, from Ancient Greek πλατεῖα (plateîa).
Noun
piazza f (plural piazze)
Synonyms
Related terms
Verb
piazza