parvis

American  

[pahr-vis] / ˈpɑr vɪs /

noun

1. a vacant enclosed area in front of a church.

2. a colonnade or portico in front of a church.

---

parvis British  

/ ˈpɑːvɪs /

noun

1. a court or portico in front of a building, esp a church

---

Etymology

Origin of parvis

1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French; Old French pare ( v ) is < Late Latin paradīsus church courtyard, originally the one before St. Peter's, Rome. See paradise

Example Sentences

In Paris, they marred the city’s famous public spaces, cluttering the Esplanade des Invalides, the Place Vendôme, the banks of the Seine, and the parvis in front of Notre Dame.

From Slate • Mar. 30, 2023

So, decentralized it is, and multi-disciplinary: a studio and an auditorium for movies, dance and other performances; a restaurant, and a large parvis as in Paris, currently planted with saplings.

From New York Times • May 12, 2010

R. microphyllum, fruticosum, lotum ferrugineo lepidotum, foliis lanceolatis parvis.

From Journals of Travels in Assam, Burma, Bhootan, Afghanistan and the Neighbouring Countries by Griffith, William

Sapphire; but the admiral defended the conduct of his officer by saying that he had merely acted, "magna componere parvis," as an English blockading squadron would have done in a similar case.

From Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836 Volume I. - Proceedings of the First Expedition, 1826-1830 by Fitzroy, Robert

Crossing the parvis of the cathedral, which I remembered, we plunged in silence into an obscure street near the river, and so narrow that the decrepit houses shut out almost all view of the sky.

From Historical Romances: Under the Red Robe, Count Hannibal, A Gentleman of France by Weyman, Stanley J.