lazarettos

Variant of lazaretto

noun pl. lazarettos

  1. a public hospital for poor people having contagious diseases, esp. for lepers
  2. a building or ship used as a quarantine station
  3. a storage space below deck in the stern of a ship or boat

Origin: It < Venetian lazareto, nazareto, after Venetian church of Santa Madonna di Nazaret, used as a plague hospital during the 15th c.; initial l- by assoc. with lazzaro, leper: see lazar

Also, and for 3 usually, lazaret or lazarette
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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