palace

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A large, grand building where a king, queen, or other ruler lives.

   Thousands of tourists visit Buckingham Palace every year.

2. 2
   noun

   A very large and luxurious house.

   Their new home was so big it felt like a palace.

From Middle English paleys, from Old French palais, which comes from Latin palātium, from Palātium, in reference to the Palatine (Palatine Hill), one of the seven hills of Rome, where the aristocracy of the Roman Republic—and later, Roman emperors—built large, splendid residences. The name is ultimately either from Etruscan, the same source as Pales (“Pales, the Italic goddess of shepherds, flocks and livestock”), or Latin palus (“stake; enclosure”). Doublet of palazzo and Pfalz.

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