Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Seraglio"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Seraglio \Se*ragl"io\, n. [It. serraglio, originally, an
inclosure of palisades, afterwards also, a palace, seraglio
(by confusion with Per. ser[=a]["i]a a palace, an entirely
different word), fr. serrare to shut, fr. LL. serra a bar for
fastening doors, L. sera. See {Serry}, {Series}.]
1. An inclosure; a place of separation. [Obs.]
I went to the Ghetto, where the Jews dwell as in a
suburb, by themselves. I passed by the piazza Judea,
where their seraglio begins. --Evelyn.
2. The palace of the Grand Seignior, or Turkish sultan, at
Constantinople, inhabited by the sultan himself, and all
the officers and dependents of his court. In it are also
kept the females of the harem.
3. A harem; a place for keeping wives or concubines;
sometimes, loosely, a place of licentious pleasure; a
house of debauchery.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
seraglio
n : living quarters reserved for wives and concubines and female
relatives in a Muslim household [syn: {harem}, {hareem},
{serail}]
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