Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An underground or partly underground chamber in a Pueblo village, used by the men especially for ceremonies or councils.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A sacred chamber, wholly or partly underground, in which many of the religious ceremonials of the Pueblo Indians are performed. Also estufa.
Wiktionary
- n. A ceremonial underground chamber in a Pueblo village.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A large chamber built under, or in, the houses of a Pueblo village, used as an assembly room in religious rites or as a men's dormitory. It is commonly lighted and entered from an opening in the roof.
Etymologies
- From Hopi kíva. (Wiktionary)
- Hopi kíva. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“He made his friends its members, but he called the kiva his own.”
“At the top of the stairs you turn right into the "kiva" -- the clubhouse of the 350 Cliff Dwellers.”
“The kiva was a large circular pit three manheights deep.”
“The roof of the kiva was the roof of the chamber that inclosed it.”
“At first a retaining wall was built immediately in front of the main kiva, which is now 5 feet high outside.”
“There is no reason to suppose that the kiva was a necessity in the ancient performance of the Tusayan ritual, and there are still performed many ceremonials as secret and as sacred as any others which occur in rooms used as dwellings or for the storage of corn.”
“If a kiva was a feature in southern cliff houses, which I doubt, it appears to have been a rectangular chamber similar to a dwelling room.”
“The kiva is the ceremonial chamber of the ancient and modern Pueblo peoples.”
“Sotheby's International Realty The house has a copper roof, custom stone paths, high ceilings and pueblo-inspired touches such as kiva (beehive-shaped) fireplaces.”
“This modern adobe house has a copper roof, custom stone paths, high ceilings and pueblo-inspired touches such as kiva (beehive-shaped) fireplaces.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘kiva’.
-
extra room
An add-on to Trivet's list elbow room and Lampbane's list 2BDRM W/VU that tries not to duplicate Trivet's and Lampbane's existing rooms. Virtual, allegorical and proverbial rooms accepted.
scullery, suite, porch, screened porch, breakfast room, atheneum, attic, hall, dressing room, passageway, corridor, fusuma and 126 more...
-
bobfet1's Words
anathema, schadenfreude, sturm und drang, dadaism, serendipitous, obfuscate, kibosh, salacious, misogyny, kismet, madrasah, circumlocute and 129 more...
-
Brave New World
Words gathered while reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
penitente, pyrrhonic, ossuary, henry-georgian, kropotkinesque, scopolamine, bokanovsky, semi-moron, hypnopaedia, welfare-tyranny, fretsawyer, theremogene and 85 more...
-
Asativum's Words
tatterdemalion, truthiness, eldritch, gemütlich, aa, pahoehoe, uffish, beamish, but, zymurgy, tarnation, malapropism and 59 more...
-
where the sun don't ever shine
dark rooms
dungeon, cellar, basement, closet, cavern, cave, catacomb, crypt, grotto, sepulcher, masoleum, tomb and 23 more...
-
Nice words
The name tells you all you need to know. Words that sound nice or just are nice.
kiva, inconvenient, squick, intuitio, ellipsi, kehto, tikkunekku, sjöbörre, aamuaurinko, karahka, square, mopo and 20 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for kiva.
kamtsatka Kiva is also the Finnish word for 'nice'. Nov 8, 2008
trivet Underground chamber of the Pueblo Indian villages of the southwestern U.S., notable for the murals that decorate its walls.
A small hole in its floor, the sípapu, serves as the symbolic place of origin of the tribe. Though the kiva's primary purpose is for men's rituals and ceremonies, it is also used for political meetings or casual gatherings.
Jun 18, 2007