naumachy

English

Etymology

From Middle French naumachie and its source, Latin naumachia.

Noun

naumachy (plural naumachies)

1. (obsolete) A place built to stage a mock sea-battle, or the show performed therein. [17th c.]
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
     , II.2.4:

     Lacedæmonians held their public banquets […], plays, naumachies, places for sea-fights, theatres, amphitheatres able to contain 70,000 men, wherein they had several delightsome shows to exhilarate the people […].