Definition of "parvis" []

• An enclosed courtyard or space at the entrance to a building, especially a cathedral, that is sometimes surrounded by porticoes or colonnades. (noun)
• One of the porticoes or colonnades surrounding such a space. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Saturnina a Rascetta per mediam manum decurrens, usque ad radicem montis Saturni, a parvis lineis intersecta, arguit melancholicos."
• "Fluvius hic illustris, humanarum rerum imago, quae parvis ductae sub initiis, in immensum crescunt, et subito evanescunt."
• "As we trooped out of St. Peter's basilica that day, spreading our amaranthine stain over the great parvis, a palpable euphoria thrilled through the entire body."