piscina
(pɪˈsiːnə, pɪˈsaɪnə)
Pl. -æ, -as.
[a. L. piscīna a fishpond, bathing-pool, tank, in med.L. in sense 2, It., Sp., Pg. piscina, f. piscis fish.]
1. A fishpond; a pond, basin, or pool; among the ancient Romans, a public or private pond for bathing or swimming.
| 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 153 Also the piscina or fishpoole where the sicke folkes were healed. 1644 Evelyn Diary 10 Nov., Piscinas or stews for fish. 1717 Berkeley Tour in Italy Wks. 1871 IV. 576, I saw likewise the ruins of a piscina, or receptacle for water. 1832 Gell Pompeiana I. v. 82 The roof of the natatorium or piscina of the baths. 1854 Cnt. E. de Warren tr. de Saulcy's Journ. Round Dead Sea II. 307 The largest and most important of all the piscinas of Jerusalem. a 1878 Sir G. G. Scott Lect. Archit. (1879) II. 154 The covered tanks or piscinæ of the ancients. |
2. Eccl. A perforated stone basin for carrying away the water used in rinsing the chalice and the hands of the priest; generally placed in a niche on the south side of the altar, though sometimes projecting from the face of the wall or supported on a short column. Also attrib.
| 1793 Gentl. Mag. LXIII. i. 422/1 In its South wall a piscina and locker. 1839 Stonehouse Axholme 226 The fenestella, or small niche, contained a vessel, bason, or piscina, for washing the hands. 1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Churches 132 The piscina is a sink or drain, through which the water used in several ablutions is poured away. 1904 Athenæum 9 Apr. 473/2 The piscina niches are numerous..but present no very special features. |
b. Applied to a holy-water basin or stoup. rare.
| 1812 Gentl. Mag. LXXXII. i. 315/2 Against the E. side are two piscinæ for holy water in the wall. |
Hence piscinal (ˈpɪsɪnəl) a. (rare—0) [ad. mod.L. piscīnālis], pertaining to a fishpond or piscina.
| 1656 in Blount Glossogr.: and in subsequent dicts. |