[Answers to a L. type *conservātōri-um, neut. sb. from conservātōrius adj. (in med.L.), and to mod.F. conservatoire: see -ORY.]
† 1. That which preserves, a preservative. Obs.
1563. Homilies, II. Sacrament, I. (1859), 443. The ancient catholic fathers … were not afraid to call this [the Lord’s] Supper … the food of immortality … and the conservatory to everlasting life.
1655. Jer. Taylor, Repentance, vi. § 1 (R.). A tree appointed to be the cure of diseases and a conservatory of life. Ibid. (1660), Duct. Dubit., II. iii. Rule vii. § 1. Non concupisces is the apex juris: it is the conservatory and the last duty of every commandment.
† 2. A place where things are preserved or kept securely; a storehouse, a repository. Also fig.
1642. Declar. Lords & Comm., 26 May, 11. The fountaine and Conservatory of the law.
1656. Stanley, Hist. Philos., I. v. 12. Memory is a conservatory or repository of the senses.
1673. Lady’s Call., I. § 5. 43. That know no other use of closets then as a conservatory of gauds and baubles.
1726. R. Neve, Builder’s Dict., s.v. Building, A Place … for a Conservatory of the Meats that are taken from Tables.
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev., 50. The great conservatories and magazines of our rights and privileges.
1796. C. Marshall, Garden., xx. (ed. 5), 441. A conservatory for Fish.
† 3. A place for preserving snow or ice unmelted; an ice-house. Obs.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 70. A Conservatory of Snow and Ice; such as they use for delicacy, to cool Wine in Summer.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., II. i. 50. Any Minerall solution … placed in cold conservatories, will Crystallise.
1693. Sir T. P. Blount, Nat. Hist., 167. In a Deep Well, or in a Conservatory of Snow … the Cold may be more Constringent.
1703. Maundrell, Journ. Jerus., 140. By its exceeding height, it [Libanus] proves a conservatory for abundance of Snow.
† 4. A reservoir of water. Obs.
1673. Ray, Journ. Low C., 68. The Water running down … into the Bottom of the Basins or Conservatories.
1675. Phil. Trans., X. 448. If a conservatory should hold 3378 muids of water.
1712. J. James, trans. Le Blond’s Gardening, 26. Heads of Water, which are Conservatories for the Fountains. Ibid., 28. A Reservoir or Conservatory.
5. A greenhouse for tender flowers or plants; now, usually, an ornamental house into which plants in bloom are brought from the hot-house or green-house.
1664. Evelyn, Sylva (1776), 413. Setting it in cases in our Conservatories of Hyemation. Ibid. (1664), Kal. Hort. (1729), 198. With the Windows and Doors of the Green-houses and Conservatories open.
1691. Lond. Gaz., No. 2674/4. A new Conservatory, or Green-House.
1782. Europ. Mag., II. 87. The idea of a Conservatory opening by a folding door into his saloon, is too fine to be left unfinished.
1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, let. vii. The present proprietor had rendered it [the parlour] more cheerful by opening one end into a small conservatory … I have never before seen this.
1859. W. Collins, Q. of Hearts (1875), 24. I … found her in the conservatory, fumigating the plants.
† 6. A hospital for the protection and nurture of orphans and foundlings. Obs.
1616. Brent, trans. Sarpi’s Counc. Trent (1676), 332. The Conservatories of these, should, by no means, be touched.
1650. J. Howell, Giraffi’s Rev. Naples, 100. An intention he had to make it [a palace] A Conservatory for poor Maidens.
1693. Phil. Trans., XVII. 837. The Monasteries … with a Conservatory of Orphans, are all shook down.
7. As a rendering of It. conservatorio, F. conservatoire, Ger. conservatorium: A public institution for special instruction in music and declamation; a school or academy of music. Frequent in U.S.; in England, the French form of the word is commonly used: see CONSERVATOIRE.
The Italian conservatorios were the earliest, and originated in hospitals for the rearing of foundlings and orphans (see prec. sense), in which a musical education was given.
1842. Hook, Ch. Dict., Conservatorii [ed. 1846 Conservatories], public schools of music in Italy.
1879. Howells, L. Aroostook (1883), I. 157. You are going to study at the conservatory in Milan?
1880. Grove, Dict. Mus., I. 10. The chief public institution in New York for teaching music is the New York Conservatory of Music.
