Dictionary

solarium en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /səˈlɛəɹ.i.əm/

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin sōlārium (“sundial, place for enjoying sunlight”), from sōl (“sun”) + -ārium (“-arium: indicating related places or devices”).

Meanings

1. (Canada, US) A room, rooftop, balcony, or terrace, used for its abundant sunlight, especially when used as a medical treatment.
   • My brother kept a health-lift a few years ago... and then he had a blue-glass solarium. 1891, Edward Eggleston, The Faith Doctor, page 289:
   • The Greeks had their helioses and the Romans their solaria; yet heliotherapy has as yet scarcely emerged from the most empiric of performances into the dignity of a scientifically justified or rationalized procedure. 1925, Hobart Amory Hare, Progressive Medicine, page 219:
   • The solariums on the roofs of the houses of the ancient Greeks and Romans testify to the benefits obtained by them from sun baths. 1894 September 20, The Voice
2. (UK) Synonym of tanning salon, a room or business used for its sunlamps or tanning beds.
3. An earthen structure constructed by certain ants for the purpose of brood incubation.
4. (archaic) Synonym of sundial.
   • […] lifting his eyes from the solarium set under the aplustre for reference in keeping the course... 1880, Lew Wallace, Ben-Hur, page 142:
   • […] this solarium being made for a different meridian […] 1842, William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquity, page 487:

Forms

Coordinates

conservatory · greenhouse · hothouse

Descendants

solarium · solárko · solárium · Solarium

Synonyms

tanning salon · sundial · sunroom