Definition of "vomitorium" in Englisch

noun

1. A passage located behind a tier of seats in an amphitheatre used as an exit for the crowds

   • 1822, John Taaffe, A Comment on the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, John Murray, page 161, […] the way that the greatest width of the interior of the Flavian amphitheatre would be ascertained, if a line were drawn from one of the vomitoria of the west side, in the uppermost story, to the eastern vomitorium, precisely facing it.
   • 1844, F. Buxton Whalley, "Excursions from Rome in June 1843", in Leonhard Schmitz (Ed.), The Classical Museum, page 330, In the tunnel to the right and left as one enters there is a passage which contains a flight of steps conducting to a "vomitorium," situated in the second "præcinctio;" […]
   • 1906, Douglas Brooke Wheelton Sladen, Carthage and Tunis: The Old and New Gates of the Orient, Hutchinson, page 52, At each of the extremities under the grand vomitorium was a gate, one called Sanivivaria and the other Mortualis.

2. (see Usage notes) An area in which vomiting takes place, in particular a chamber supposedly used by ancient Romans to vomit during a feast so they could continue eating.

   • 1944, Lewis Mumford, The Condition of Man, Harcourt, Brace & World (1944), p. 467, In the rich man's house the vomitorium became an essential chamber: the place where the guzzler of rich food emptied his stomach, so that he might come back to the feast for more.
   • 1994, LeeAnn Alexander-Mott and D. Barry Lumsden, Understanding Eating Disorders: Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Obesity, Taylor & Francis (1994), →ISBN, p. 23, The Romans frowned on obesity, and they were accredited for inventing the vomitorium, which allowed them to binge and relieve themselves of the feeling of fullness.
   • 1997, Mervat Nasser, Culture and Weight Consciousness, Routledge (1997), →ISBN, p. 17, As for the Romans, they are famously known for their invention of the vomitorium which allowed them to indulge in excessive eating and relieve themselves by vomiting.
   • 2004, Dean R. Koontz, The Face, Bantam Books (2004), →ISBN, p. 326, The slight tremor in his voice dismayed him, but he persevered: "Vinnie's Soda Parlor and Vomitorium, home of the nine-pound ice-cream sundae, where you splurge and then purge."