αὐλή, 
-ῆς, 
ἡ, (
ἄω to blow; hence) properly, 
a place open to the air (διαπνεόμενος τόπος αὐλὴ λέγεται, 
Athen. 5, 15, p. 189 b.);
1. among the Greeks in Homer's time 
an uncovered space around the house, enclosed by a wall, in which the stables stood (Homer, Odyssey 9, 185; Iliad 4, 433); hence, among the Orientals that 
roofless enclosure in the open country in which flocks were herded at night, a sheepfold: 
John 10:1, 
16.
2. the uncovered court-yard of the house, Hebrew 
חָצֵר, the 
Sept. αὐλή, 
Vulg. atrium. In the 
O. T. particularly of the courts of the tabernacle and of the temple at Jerusalem; so in the 
N. T. once: 
Revelation 11:2 (
τὴν αὐλὴν τήν ἔξωθεν [
Rec.st ἔσωθεν] 
τοῦ ναοῦ). The dwellings of the higher classes usually had two 
αὐλαί, one exterior, between the door and the street, called also 
προαύλιον (which see); the other interior, surrounded by the buildings of the dwelling itself. The latter is mentioned 
Matthew 26:69 (where 
ἔξω is opposed to the room in which the judges were sitting); 
Mark 14:66; 
Luke 22:55. Cf. 
Winers RWB under the word Häuser; [
B. D. American edition under the word Court; 
BB. DD. under the word House].
3. the house itself, a palace: 
Matthew 26:3, 
58; 
Mark 14:54; 
Mark 15:16; 
Luke 11:21; 
John 18:15, and so very often in Greek writings from Homer, Odyssey 4, 74 down [cf. Eustathius 1483, 39 
τῷ τῆς αὐλῆς ὀνόματι τὰ δώματα δηλοῖ, Suidas col. 652 c. 
αὐλή· 
ἡ τοῦ βασιλέως οἰκία. Yet this sense is denied to the 
N. T. by Meyer neuter plural; see Meyer on Matthew, the passage cited]. 
    THAYER’S GREEK LEXICON, Electronic Database.
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