cryptan.

1563 2nd Tome Homelyes ii. iii. f. 72^v Christians had..caues vnder the grounde called Cryptae, where they for feare of persecution assembled secretely together.

1602 L. Lloyd Stratagems of Ierusalem ii. ii. 133 They had in their cities and townes places called Cripta, for corne and prouisions for souldiers.

1639 in T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1889) III. 128 In this of St. Calixtus there are 3 Cryptas one above another.

a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1667 (1955) III. 496 I designed for him the plat of his Canale & Garden, with a Crypta thro the hill.

1703 N. Battely Somner's Antiq. Canterbury (rev. ed.) ii. 28 They were commonly called Cripta, or rather Crypta.

1785 H. Swinburne Trav. in Two Sicilies II. xvi. 121 On the stairs that lead to this sumptuous crypta, is..an inscription which shews how essential the ancients thought pious donations, prayers, and burning of lamps were to the welfare and happiness of departed spirits.

1845 R. Sears New & Compl. Hist. Holy Bible (ed. 4) i. xxi. 350 These are, for the most part, oblong cryptæ, with ledges on either side for holding the bodies or coffins.

1885 E. S. Shumway tr. F. Lohr Day in Anc. Rome 93 He..entered the crypta near the temple of Jupiter to see how those boys were doing their exercises.

1900 Ann. Rep. State Board Charities 1899 (N.Y.) I. 515 The new morgue is a metal structure built on piles... Two sides of the central hall are fitted up with cryptae to receive the bodies of the dead.

1965 Jrnl. Soc. Archit. Historians 24 305/2 The earliest crypta within the rectangular apse could well have been known to Gregory of Tours.

2003 L. Jacobelli Gladiators at Pompeii ii. 54 All of the passageways and the crypta were reinforced with brick arches.

1726 Quincy's Lexicon Physico-medicum (ed. 3) Cryptæ, a Term used in Anatomy to express a Receptacle of any particular Humour or Matter.

1742 tr. H. Boerhaave Acad. Lect. Theory Physic I. 237 The sensible Papillæ in their villous Coat are therefore constantly rubb'd against each other; and if they were not defended by the Mucus discharged from the Cryptæ and small Glands, it would produce an intolerable painful or uneasy Sensation.

1765 C. N. Jenty Course Anatomico-physiol. Lect. (ed. 3) II. Introd. p. xv Into these Follicles or Cells, the least Arteries..open by producted Extremities within the cavity of each Crypta.

1834 E. Griffith et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom XII. 155 If we may judge from the great quantity of mucosity which is spread in general over the surface of the skin of the mollusca, we should believe that the mucous cryptæ there were very numerous.

1878 E. N. Chapman Antagonism Alcohol & Diphtheria 95 On the second day, the mucous cryptæ were filled with a white secretion.

1980 Amer. Jrnl. Pathol. 99 207 In the intestine S[trongyloides] ratti adult worms lie in the cryptae without penetrating mucosa.

1835 G. T. Burnett Outl. Bot. II. 970 In some the aromatic principle is in union with, or is peculiar to the essential oil, with which the utricles or cryptæ are replete.

1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. I. 353/1 Crypta, the sunken glands or cysts which occur in dotted leaves. The same as Cyst.

1890 Ann. Rep. State Board Hort. Calif. 1889 38 The Olea glandulifera alone has long uniseriate hairs, confined to special cryptae (round receptacles with which the leaves are studded).