Definition of hippodrome in US English:

hippodrome

noun

1as name A theater or other performance venue.
‘“Tuna Does Vegas” is ending this week at the Waco Hippodrome’
- ‘First popular were Hagenbeck's Dancing Bears, Red Indian displays, and the hippodrome (horse races).’
- ‘By 1890, their vast big top contained three rings, two stages, a peripheral hippodrome track, and space for ten thousand spectators.’
- ‘The team has already run an F1 car around the Circus Maximus in Rome, and the historic Sultanahmet hippodrome in Istanbul's city centre.’
- ‘No horse races took place at the Palermo hippodrome in the City of Buenos Aires on August 24 and 25.’
- ‘But Crosby called it ‘that pretty little horse hippodrome by the sea.’’
- ‘I saw the Blue Mosque, and some of the other sights in the city, but the best thing was doing the demonstration run around the old hippodrome.’
- ‘At the hippodrome on the city's edge, thousands of cheering and whistling spectators watched about 50 riders compete furiously at buzkashi.’
- ‘She also assumes that, as a teen-ager, Menken may have honed her equestrian skills by playing in hippodrome shows in Texas and Louisiana.’
- ‘One hundred twenty employees of the hippodrome and dog track in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, went on strike on Saturday.’
- ‘I typed for a while, then left again, attracted back to the lights and street-action on the hippodrome.’
playhouse, auditorium, amphitheatre, coliseum
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2(in ancient Greece or Rome) a course for chariot or horse races.
- ‘About two miles away and once connected by an ancient colonnaded paved road is the largest existing Roman hippodrome found in the world.’
- ‘But as in the conflicts between Blue and Green factions of the Byzantine hippodrome, minor affective preferences can have major political consequences.’
- ‘Part of it was thrown into the hippodrome of the town, together with the Chakraswamin, an idol of bronze brought from Thanesar.’
- ‘Both these treaties are shown on the base of the obelisk of Theodosius, erected in the hippodrome at Constantinople in 390, as triumphs of Roman arms.’
- ‘The historic heart of Istanbul will welcome a parade of historic racing cars on the route of the ancient hippodrome.’
- ‘The most popular entertainments were the theater, frequently denounced by the clergy for nudity and immorality, and the races at the hippodrome.’
- ‘We've studied the foundations of temples, hippodromes and harbours and our task was to rebuild them from the ruins using the latest technology.’
- ‘Chariot races staged in the hippodrome - always a crowd-pleaser - opened the games.’
- ‘Many of Herod's structures are well preserved - the palace, aqueduct, hippodrome, and the amphitheater.’
stadium, arena, amphitheatre, coliseum, colosseum
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Origin

Late 16th century (in hippodrome (sense 2)): from French, via Latin from Greek hippodromos, from hippos ‘horse’ + dromos ‘race, course’. The early sense led to the term's use as a grandiose name for a modern circus, later applied to other places of popular entertainment ( hippodrome (sense 1), late 19th century).