columbaria

Noun

columbarium (plural columbariums or columbaria)

1. (historical) A columbary, especially a large and architecturally impressive one for housing a large colony of pigeons or doves, such as those in ancien régime France.
   • Meronym: pigeonhole

   Synonyms:

   dovecote, pigeon loft

2. A pigeonhole in such a dovecote.
3. A building, a vault or a similar place for the respectful and usually public storage of cinerary urns containing cremated remains.
   • We have seen how it is originally language which works on the construction of concepts, a labor taken over in later ages by science. Just as the bee simultaneously constructs cells and fills them with honey, so science works unceasingly on this great columbarium of concepts, the graveyard of...1873, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, anonymous translator, On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense, translation of original in German, part 2

   Synonyms:

   cinerarium

4. A niche in such a building for housing urns.