naumachy

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English

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Etymology

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From Middle French naumachie and its source, Latin naumachia.

Noun

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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 […].