atrium

Etymology

From Latin ātrium (“entry hall”), from Etruscan.

noun

1. (architecture) A central room or space in ancient Roman homes, open to the sky in the middle; a similar space in other buildings.
2. (architecture) A square hall lit by daylight from above, into which rooms open at one or more levels.
3. (anatomy) A cavity, entrance, or passage.
   an atrium of the infundibula of the lungs
4. (biology) Any enclosed body cavity or chamber.
5. (anatomy) An upper chamber of the heart that receives blood from the veins and forces it into a ventricle. In higher vertebrates, the right atrium receives blood from the superior vena cava and inferior vena cava, and the left atrium receives blood from the left and right pulmonary veins.
6. (anatomy) A microscopic air sac within a pulmonary alveolus.
7. (palynology) A cavity inside a porate aperture of a pollen grain formed by the separation of the sexine and nexine layers, widening toward the interior of the grain.
   Nexine 0.5μ thick, separating from the sexine about 5μ from the pore and forming a deep, well-defined atrium. 1965, Janet Kircher Warter, Palynology of a Lignite of Lower Eocene (Wilcox) Age from Kemper County, page 52