vomitorium

Noun

vomitorium (plural vomitoria or vomitoriums)

1. A passage located behind a tier of seats in an amphitheatre used as an exit for the crowds
   • […] the way that the greatest width of the interior of the Flavian amphitheatre would be ascertained, if a line were drawn from one of the vomitoria of the west side, in the uppermost story, to the eastern vomitorium, precisely facing it.1822, John Taaffe, A Comment on the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, John Murray, page 161
   • In the tunnel to the right and left as one enters there is a passage which contains a flight of steps conducting to a "vomitorium," situated in the second "præcinctio;" […]1844, F. Buxton Whalley, "Excursions from Rome in June 1843", in Leonhard Schmitz (Ed.), The Classical Museum, page 330

   Synonyms:

   vomitory

2. (see Usage notes) An area in which vomiting takes place, in particular a chamber supposedly used by ancient Romans to vomit during a feast so they could continue eating.
   • In the rich man's house the vomitorium became an essential chamber: the place where the guzzler of rich food emptied his stomach, so that he might come back to the feast for more.1944, Lewis Mumford, The Condition of Man, Harcourt, Brace & World (1944), p. 467
   • The Romans frowned on obesity, and they were accredited for inventing the vomitorium, which allowed them to binge and relieve themselves of the feeling of fullness.1994, LeeAnn Alexander-Mott and D. Barry Lumsden, Understanding Eating Disorders: Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Obesity, Taylor & Francis (1994), →ISBN, p. 23