seraglio Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun living quarters reserved for wives and concubines and female relatives in a Muslim household
    harem; serail; hareem.

WordNet

Se*ragl"io noun
Etymology
It. serraglio, originally, an inclosure of palisades, afterwards also, a palace, seraglio (by confusion with Per. seraïa a palace, an entirely different word), fr. serrare to shut, fr. LL. serra a bar for fastening doors, L. sera. See Serry, Series.
Definitions
  1. An inclosure; a place of separation. Obs.
    I went to the Ghetto, where the Jews dwell as in a suburb, by themselves. I passed by the piazza Judea, where their seraglio begins. Evelyn.
  2. The palace of the Grand Seignior, or Turkish sultan, at Constantinople, inhabited by the sultan himself, and all the officers and dependents of his court. In it are also kept the females of the harem.
  3. A harem; a place for keeping wives or concubines; sometimes, loosely, a place of licentious pleasure; a house of debauchery.

Webster 1913