compluvium


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Related to compluvium: The impluvium

compluvium

(kəmˈpluːvɪəm)
n, pl compluvia
an unroofed space over the atrium in a Roman house, through which rain fell and was collected
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
Translations
References in periodicals archive ?
A doorway (ostium) and small vestibule led into the atrium with open roof (compluvium) allowing rain water to fall onto a floor area (impluvium), from where it was channelled into subterranean cisterns.
We find in every house a Tuscan atrium, with a cavaedium or gangway running round the rectangular impluvium, the tank or piscine which catches the rain and drippings falling through the compluvium or central opening in the roof.