Vomitorium

Quick meaning: Vomitorium is a noun meaning A passage located behind a tier of seats in an amphitheatre used as an exit for the crowds.

Meaning

A passage located behind a tier of seats in an amphitheatre used as an exit for the crowds.

More Meanings

1. (see Usage notes) An area in which vomiting takes place, in particular a chamber supposedly used by ancient Romans to vomit during a feast so they could continue eating.

Example Sentences

Miles turned to him beaming, his nostrils taking in the ambiguous smell of molten glass rising from the vomitoria beneath them, which only he among the crew found at all pleasant.

1906, Douglas Brooke Wheelton Sladen, Carthage and Tunis: The Old and New Gates of the Orient, Hutchinson, page 52, At each of the extremities under the grand vomitorium was a gate, one called Sanivivaria and the other Mortualis.

2004, Dean R. Koontz, The Face, Bantam Books (2004), →ISBN, p. 326, The slight tremor in his voice dismayed him, but he persevered: "Vinnie's Soda Parlor and Vomitorium, home of the nine-pound ice-cream sundae, where you splurge and then purge."

1997, Mervat Nasser, Culture and Weight Consciousness, Routledge (1997), →ISBN, p. 17, As for the Romans, they are famously known for their invention of the vomitorium which allowed them to indulge in excessive eating and relieve themselves by vomiting.

Word Forms

• vomitoria
• vomitoriums

Synonyms for vomitorium

Depending on context, synonyms include vomitory.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include vomitory, podium, vestibule, auditorium, pretorium, gallery.

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