Etymology: < Italian grotta (for which Dante has also grotto) = Old French crote, croute, Provençal crota, Spanish gruta, Portuguese gruta < popular Latin crupta, grupta (= literary Latin crypta), < Greek κρύπτη vault; < κρύπτειν to hide. (The modern French grotte is from Italian).
1. A cave or cavern, esp. one which is picturesque, or which forms an agreeable retreat.
2. An excavation or structure made to imitate a rocky cave, often adorned with shell-work, etc., and serving as a place of recreation or a cool retreat.
3. A structure of oyster-shells in the form of a grotto erected and exhibited by London street-boys on the 5th of August. (OED)
"The same unlikely
Places–a battlefield or grotto–
Are returned to, while again the hollow-eyed
Ogle in flagrante devoto
And obey, shyly,
The scrambled revelations so true-and-tried."
- J. D. McClatchy, "Cağaloğlu", 15 & 22 August 2011 The New Yorker
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