Definition of "peristyle" [per•i•style]

• A series of columns surrounding a building or enclosing a court. (noun)
• A court enclosed by columns. (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.

• "The body of it is adorned with twenty columns engaged in the wall, and the peristyle, which is open, with ten detached pillars that support the entablature."
• "In the peristyle is a semicircular fountain, on the margin of which were disposed several animals in bronze, representing a hunting scene."
• "That close to the gate, called the House of the Triclinium, derives its name from a large triclinium in the centre of the peristyle, which is spacious and handsome, and bounded by the city walls."