1. observatory(n = noun.artifact) - a building designed and equipped to observe astronomical phenomena;
is a kind of building, edifice
2. observatory(n = noun.artifact) lookout, lookout station, observation tower - a structure commanding a wide view of its surroundings;
is a kind of construction, structure
has particulars: observation dome, widow's walk
1. A place or building for making observations on the heavenly bodies. [1913 Webster]
"The new observatory in Greenwich Park." [1913 Webster]
2. A building fitted with instruments for making systematic observations of any particular class or series of natural phenomena. [1913 Webster]
3. A place, as an elevated chamber, from which a view may be observed or commanded. [1913 Webster]
4. A lookout on a flank of a battery whence an officer can note the range and effect of the fire; usually referred to as an
observatory, n. (pl. -ies) a room or building equipped for the observation of natural, esp. astronomical or meteorological, phenomena.
Etymology:
mod.L observatorium f. L observare (as OBSERVE)
N world, creation, nature, universe, earth, globe, wide world, cosmos, kosmos, terraqueous globe, sphere, macrocosm, megacosm, music of the spheres, heavens, sky, welkin, empyrean, starry cope, starry heaven, starry host, firmament, Midgard, supersensible regions, varuna, vault of heaven, canopy of heaven, celestial spaces, heavenly bodies, stars, asteroids, nebulae, galaxy, milky way, galactic circle, via lactea, ame no kawa, sun, orb of day, Apollo, Phoebus, photosphere, chromosphere, solar system, planet, planetoid, comet, satellite, moon, orb of night, Diana, silver-footed queen, aerolite, meteor, planetary ring, falling star, shooting star, meteorite, uranolite, constellation, zodiac, signs of the zodiac, Charles's wain, Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Great Bear, Southern Cross, Orion's belt, Cassiopea's chair, Pleiades, colures, equator, ecliptic, orbit, astronomy, uranography, uranology, cosmology, cosmography, cosmogony, eidouranion, orrery, geodesy, star gazing, star gazer, astronomer, observatory, planetarium, cosmic, cosmical, mundane, terrestrial, terrestrious, terraqueous, terrene, terreous, telluric, earthly, geotic, under the sun, sublunary, subastral, solar, heliacal, lunar, celestial, heavenly, sphery, starry, stellar, sidereal, sideral, astral, nebular, uranic, in all creation, on the face of the globe, here below, under the sun, die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltergesicht, earth is but the frozen echo of the silent voice o, green calm below, blue quietness above, hanging in a golden chain this pendant World, nothing in nature is unbeautiful, silently as a dream the fabric rose, some touch of nature's genial glow, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, through knowledge we behold the World's creation.