Crossword clues for natatorium
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Natatorium \Na`ta*to"rium\, n. [L.] A swimming bath.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1890, New Englandish word for "swimming pool," from Latin natator "swimmer" (from nare "to swim") + -ium, neuter suffix. Latin nare is from PIE root *sna- "to swim" (cognates: Sanskrit snati "bathes;" Avestan snayeite "washes, cleans;" Armenian nay "wet, liquid," Greek notios "wet, damp," nekhein "to swim;" Middle Irish snaim "I swim," snam "a swimming"). Middle English had natatorie "a pool, bath," early 14c., from Latin.
Wiktionary
n. (context US English) A swimming pool, especially an indoor one.
WordNet
n. pool that provides a facility for swimming; "`swimming bath' is a British term" [syn: swimming pool, swimming bath]
[also: natatoria (pl)]
Wikipedia
A natatorium (plural: natatoria) is a building containing a swimming pool. In Latin, a cella natatoria was a swimming pool in its own building, although it is sometimes also used to refer to any indoor pool even if not housed in a dedicated building (e.g., a pool in a school or a fitness club). It will usually also house locker rooms, and perhaps allied activities, such as a diving tank or facilities for water polo. Many colleges, universities and high schools have natatoria.
Usage examples of "natatorium".
The Samarra Natatorium stood at the edge of the sea, surrounded by the ruins of a once thriving neighborhood that had been forsaken some decades earlier.
The natatorium was an extensive complex of interconnected swimming pools, spas, and rejuvenation ponds fed by thermal mineral springs, all enclosed in a structure built of faceted steelglass.
Eight hundred people could comfortably take their pleasure in the natatorium, bathe in the warm waters believed to have antiaging and aphrodisiac properties, or simply indulge in alcohol and narcotics and socialize with their peers throughout the long and sweltering nights.
As night fell, McDermott approached the natatorium on foot, alone and unarmed.
When he stopped and looked away from the natatorium and intently studied the buildings, he could make out faint gleams of light in some of the windows, and when he breathed slowly and deeply he could smell hints of cooking food cloaked by the stench of the garbage.
From the edge of the ruins, he watched the stragglers arriving by air and land, and studied the wide sterile buffer zone surrounding the natatorium grounds, the energy barrier, and the security drones hovering in the airspace above.
The natatorium was aglow, its light reflecting from the listless waves that washed up the gentle slope of beach.
A dropflyer flew overhead, continued out over the ocean, then swung around, headed back in toward the natatorium to pick up passengers it had presumably dropped off early in the evening.
It took most of the week, but he finally managed an invitation to join a small party of corporate attorneys who were going to the Samarra Natatorium that weekend.
The Sun was just rising in the east, peeking above the surrounding ruins, reflecting from the natatorium windows in bright fiery colors.
McDermott sat on the log, facing the natatorium rather than the river, and poured coffee for them both.
After that, a couple of drums of an extremely noxious compound that should permanently foul the waters, the pipes, the pools, everything inside the natatorium with an unbearable stench.
McDermott looked out at the natatorium, which gleamed like some fantastic and immense living jewel out on the sands.
They were high enough to see over the top of the low, grass-topped dunes, with an unobstructed view of the natatorium aglow on the edge of the sea.
A few of the copters were on the ground, along with ground cruisers, ambulances, and haz-mat vans, while hundreds of people scrambled around outside the natatorium, swarming over the pads and making landing even more difficult.