vestibule

Etymology

Early 17th century, borrowed from French vestibule (“entrance court”), from Latin vestibulum (“forecourt, entrance court; entrance”), from vestiō (“to dress, clothe, vest”) + -bulum (“place, location”, nominal suffix). Doublet of vestibulum.

noun

1. (architecture) A small entrance hall, antechamber, passage, or room between the outer door and the main hall, lobby, or interior of a building.
   1. (architecture) A large entrance hall in a temple or palace.
   2. (rail transport) An enclosed entrance at the end of a railway passenger car.
      The exit side of the front vestibule contains a sliding door. 1912, Electric Railway Journal, volume XL, number 14, page 556
      The units have transverse seats, two and three astride the passageway with single or double longitudinal seats alongside the two entrance vestibules in each car. 1960 November, “New electric multiple-units for British Railways: Glasgow Suburban”, in Trains Illustrated, page 660
2. (anatomy) Any of a number of body cavities or channels, serving as or resembling an entrance to another bodily space.
   1. The central cavity of the bony labyrinth of the inner ear or the parts (such as the saccule and utricle) of the membranous labyrinth that it contains.
   2. The part of the left ventricle below the aortic orifice.
   3. The part of the mouth outside the teeth and gums.
      The incision of the mucosa over the premaxilla is traced a millimetre or two from the furrow that marks the bottom of the barely-defined vestibule. 2001, René Malek, Cleft Lip and Palate: Lesions, Pathophysiology and Primary Treatment, page 79
   4. Clipping of vulval vestibule: the space in the vulva between the labia minora and into which both the urethra and vagina open.

verb

1. (transitive) To furnish with a vestibule or vestibules.
   the vestibuled platform 1892, Brander Matthews, In the Vestibule Limited