different between grotto vs grottowork

English

Etymology

From Italian grotta, from Vulgar Latin grupta, from Classical Latin crypta. Doublet of crypt.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /????t.??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /????.to?/
• Rhymes: -?t??

Noun

grotto (plural grottos or grottoes)

1. A small cave.
2. An artificial cavern-like retreat.
3. A Marian shrine, usually built in a cavern-like structure.
4. A local organization of cavers that typically organizes trips to caves and provides information and training for caving; a caving club.
   • 1987, National Speleological Society, NSS News, vol. 45-46, p.331:

     An earlier attempt to organize a grotto in the Indiana, PA, area in the mid-1970s failed to succeed, but from it developed the informal Chestnut Ridge Explorers Association.
5. (Satanism) A secretive name for a local group of underground Satanists.

Derived terms

• grot
• Santa's grotto

Translations

English

Etymology

grotto +? work

Noun

grottowork (usually uncountable, plural grottoworks)

1. artificial ornamental rockwork in imitation of a grotto

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Cowper to this entry?)