odditorium en · NOUN
Etymology
Blend of odd + auditorium; mainly used by the franchise of Ripley's Believe It or Not!.
Meanings
-
A shop or museum exhibiting unusual curiosities.
Ripley's has odditoriums across the United States, but the Key West location features many exhibits unique to our island.
2002, Christopher Shultz, David L. Sloan, Quit Your Job and Move to Key West: The Complete Guide, page 55:His shop had been an odditorium, its crowding walls filled to the ceiling with unfathomable, strangely charismatic products like Bay Rum and styptic pencils that would seal up cuts […].
2016, Alan Moore, Jerusalem, Liveright, page 27:[…] and we found passageways with queer, quaint gables, and in a draper's shop, and in constant daily use, we came upon an ancient and beautiful oak staircase really fit for a palace, and we happened upon an "odditorium," […]
1917, Robert Shackleton, Touring Great Britain, page 182:Today the syndicated daytime talk show is the straight-line mainstream descendant of the odditoriums and dunk-the-fool attractions of a century ago.
1998, Robert Abelman, Reaching a critical mass, page 39:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| odditoriums | Number=Plur | lexicographic |