MEANING
A chamber or vaulted space beneath a building, especially an old church.
Use it for
Lower levels of religious buildings, storage beneath ceremony, concealed routes.Contrast ordinary uses below ground with the solemn spaces overhead.
Words that belong together
- vaulted undercroft
- abbey undercroft
- descend to the undercroft
On the page
Wine barrels lined the abbey's undercroft, far below the altar.
The staircase to the undercroft ended behind a locked grille.
Visitors could hear footsteps overhead while standing in the undercroft.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- undercroft
Usage notes
Primary category: gothic. May be storage or another usable lower space, not necessarily a burial crypt. Plural undercrofts.
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