[L.]
1. A court. a. The central hall or court of a Roman house. b. A covered court or portico in front of the principal doors of churches, etc.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), 340. The third parte was called Atrium, the court.
1792. Adam, Rom. Antiq., 522. In the atrium, the nuptial couch was erected.
1853. Ruskin, Stones Ven., II. iv. § 65. A large atrium or portico is attached to two sides of the church.
2. Phys. a. That part of the auricle into which the veins pour the blood. b. In the Tunicata: A large cavity into which the intestine opens.
1870. Nicholson, Zool. (1880), 382. From the stomach an intestine is continued, which … opens into the bottom of a second chamber called the ‘cloaca’ or ‘atrium.’
1880. Günther, Fishes, 119. Each atrium is supported externally by a small bone.
