lyceum

From Ancient Greek Λύκειον (Lúkeion) (the name of a gymnasium, or athletic training facility, near Athens where Aristotle established his school), from Λύκειος ("Lycian" or "wolf-killer").

• IPA^(key): /laɪˈsiːəm/

lyceum (plural lyceums)

1. (historical) A public hall designed for lectures, readings, or concerts.
   • 1854, Henry David Thoreau, Life Without Principle

     At a lyceum, not long since, I felt that the lecturer had chosen a theme too foreign to himself, and so failed to interest me as much as he might have done.

   • 1875, Henry James, Roderick Hudson, New York Edition 1909, hardcover, page 414

     In the autumn he was to return home; his family - composed, as Rowland knew, of a father, who was a cashier in a bank, and five unmarried sisters, one of whom gave lyceum lectures on woman's rights, the whole resident at Buffalo, N.Y. - had been writing him peremptory letters and appealing to him as son, brother and fellow-citizen.

2. (US, historical) A school, especially European, at a stage between elementary school and college, a lycée.
3. An association for literary improvement.

• lyceum in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• lyceum at OneLook Dictionary Search

• cymule