recesses

Noun

recess (countable and uncountable, plural recesses)

1. (countable) A depressed, hollow, or indented space; also, a hole or opening.
   • Put a generous recess behind the handle for finger space.
   1. A small space created by building part of a wall further back from the rest; a niche.
      • [T]he Harmony, Proportion and Beauty of Buildings are equally admirable, vvhether they be executed in plain Free-ſtone, or the moſt beautiful Marble; vvhether the Carvings or Mouldings be gilt or not; the Receſſes or Panels in the VValls be curiouſly painted, or only plaiſter'd.1742, [Daniel Defoe], “Letter II. Containing a Description of the City of London, as Taking in the City of Westminster, Borough of Southwark, and the Buildings Circumjacent.”, in A Tour thro’ the...
   2. (plural-normally, slang) The place in a prison where the communal lavatories are located.
2. (countable) A hidden, innermost, or inaccessible place or part of a place.
   • The recesses of the forest answered well the purposes of concealment, and Lucy was useful both as an unsuspected messenger, and also for the intelligence she was able to obtain.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter III, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 18
   1. (archaic) A place of retirement, retreat, or seclusion.
      • [U]s hitherto this Corner and ſecret receſſe hath defended, novv the Vttermoſt point of our Land is laid open: and things the leſſe they haue beene vvithin knovvledge, the greater the glorie is to atchieue them.1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Flavius Domitian”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John Beale...
   2. (figuratively, plural-normally) An obscure, remote, or secret situation.
      • the difficulties and recesses of science

See all 28 meanings of recess