athenaeum

See also Athenaeum

English

Alternative forms

• athenæum

Etymology

From Latin Athenaeum, from Ancient Greek Ἀθηναῖον, from Ἀθήνη (“Athene”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /aθɪˈniːəm/

Noun

athenaeum (plural athenaeums)

1. An association for the advancement of learning, particularly in the fields of science or literature.
   • 1994 June 3, Michael Miner, “Will This Man Save Inland Architect?/A Simple Process”, Chicago Reader:

     A panel of architects who might loosely be described as the local athenaeum of their profession are awaiting, anxiously, the next edition of the bimonthly journal that bears their names.

2. A building for storing books or newspapers; a library, reading-room etc.
   • 1921, Christopher Morley, Plum Pudding^[1]:

     And this, too, may have been not unconnected with the gracious influence of the other sex as exhibited in a neighbouring athenaeum; and was accompanied by a gruesome spate of florid lyrics: some (happily) secret, and some exposed with needless hardihood in a college magazine.