edifice

Founding-era definition · Webster's 1828 American Dictionary

ED'IFICE, noun [Latin oedificium. See Edify.] A building; a structure; a fabric; but appropriately, a large or splendid building. The word is not applied to a mean building, but to temples, churches or elegant mansion-houses, and to other great structures.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI

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