Meaning of Grotto | Babel Free

Definitions

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.
5. A secretive name for a local group of underground Satanists.
6. A garden or roadside shrine with a small cave containing a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary (usually Our Lady of Lourdes and sometimes paired with a water feature)
   Philippines

Equivalents

Examples

“...But, while we are waiting for the temple, can you not show⟳ us the altar?—we want⟳ to see⟳ your grotto." Pope desired nothing better than to show⟳ his new toy, and led the way to the pretty and fanciful cave, which was but just finished.”

“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.”

“By the mid-1940s members of local grottos (regional clubs of cavers within the National Speleological Society) were exploring Porcupine Cave (Bloch, 1946).”

“The answer⟳ to the question⟳, “Are there any caves in Arizona?” was always the laconic “None to speak⟳ of,” with emphasis on the “to speak⟳ of.” This secrecy dovetailed with the cave conservation ethic promoted by the local caving grotto.”

CEFR level