palais

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a palace or grand public building, especially one with a French name or cultural setting

   The winter exhibition opened in a glass-roofed palais beside the river.

2. 2
   noun

   a large entertainment or dance hall, chiefly in names and historical contexts

   The old palais hosted dances every Saturday night.

Borrowed from French palais, ‘palace,’ which ultimately comes through Latin palātium from the Palatine Hill in Rome, the site of imperial residences. In British usage, palais also became shorthand for a palais de danse, a large public dance hall.

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