[L., f. frīgid-us cold.] The cooling-room in a Roman bath.
1706. in Phillips (ed. Kersey).
1832. Gell, Pompeiana, I. vi. 95. Here was certainly the frigidarium, in which many persons took off their garments, but more especially those who intended to make use only of the natatio, or cold bath.
1840. Hood, Up Rhine, 244. In another [temple I saw] grown men and women were wading up to their chins in a sort of Frigidarium, or cold bath.
b. transf. A room kept at a low temperature.
1892. Quarterly Review, CLXXIV. April, 400. Furniture was very scanty and uncouth; and even the chief rooms, with all their ample fire-places, were but miserable frigidaria.
1892. Pall Mall G., 14 April, 2/2. Room for fourteen in the frigidarium [of the Morgue].