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Webster 1913 Edition
Palaestra
Definition 2024
Palaestra
Palaestra
Latin
Proper noun
Palaestra f (genitive Palaestrae); first declension
- A female given name, character in the play Rudens of Plautus.
palaestra
palaestra
English
Alternative forms
Noun
palaestra (plural palaestras or palaestrae)
- (historical) A public area in ancient Greece and Rome dedicated to the teaching and practice of wrestling and other sports; a wrestling school, a gymnasium. [from 15th c.]
-
1990, Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae:
- Athenian culture flourished in externalities, the open air of the agora and the nudity of the palestra.
-
1990, Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae:
- An arena for literal or figurative combat; a battlefield. [from 15th c.]
Translations
Latin
Etymology
From Ancient Greek παλαίστρα (palaístra, “wrestling school”).
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /paˈlaɪs.tra/
Noun
palaestra f (genitive palaestrae); first declension
- wrestling school, palaestra; place of exercise; gymnasium
- wrestling
- (figuratively) rhetorical exercises; school of rhetoric, school
- (figuratively) art, skill; dexterity
- (figuratively, in the language of comedy) brothel
Inflection
First declension.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
nominative | palaestra | palaestrae |
genitive | palaestrae | palaestrārum |
dative | palaestrae | palaestrīs |
accusative | palaestram | palaestrās |
ablative | palaestrā | palaestrīs |
vocative | palaestra | palaestrae |
Synonyms
- (wrestling school): oleum
Related terms
Descendants
References
- palaestra in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- palaestra in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- PALAESTRA in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
- Félix Gaffiot (1934), “palaestra”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
- palaestra in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- palaestra in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin