αὐλή

αὐλῆς, ἡ (ἄω to blow; hence) properly, a place open to the air (διαπνεόμενος τόπος αὐλή λέγεται, Athen. 5, 15, p. 189 b.);
1. among the Greeks in Homers 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: Jn 10:1, Jn 10:16.
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: Rev 11:2 (τήν αὐλήν 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 Mt 26:69 (where ἔξω is opposed to the room in which the judges were sitting); Mk 14:66; Lk 22:55. Cf. Winers RWB under the word Häuser; (B. D. American edition under the word ; BB. DD. under the word ).
3. the house itself a palace: Mt 26:3, Mt 26:58; Mk 14:54; Mk 15:16; Lk 11:21; Jn 18:15, and so very often in Greek writings from Homer, Odyssey 4, 74 down (cf. Eustathius 1483, 39 τῷ τῆς αὐλῆς ὀνόματι τά δώματα δηλοῖ, Suidas col. 652 c. αὐλή. ἡ τοῦ βασιλέως οἰκία. Yet this sense is denied to the N. T. by Meyer et al.; see Meyer on Matthew, the passage cited).