Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun, plural grot·toes, grot·tos.
- a cave or cavern.
- an artificial cavernlike recess or structure.
noun plural -toes or -tos
- a small cave, esp one with attractive features
- a construction in the form of a cave, esp as in landscaped gardens during the 18th century
1610s, from Italian grotta, ultimately from Latin crypta “vault, cavern,” from Greek krypte “hidden place” (see crypt). Terminal -o may be from its being spelled that way in many translations of Dante’s “Divine Comedy.”