antechamber

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: an=te=cham=ber

CIDE DICTIONARY

antechamber, n. [Cf. F. antichambre.].

•  A chamber or apartment before the chief apartment and leading into it, in which persons wait for audience; an outer chamber. See Lobby.  [1913 Webster]
•  A space viewed as the outer chamber or the entrance to an interior part.  [1913 Webster]

  "The mouth, the antechamber to the digestive canal."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

antechamber, n. a small room leading to a main one.

Etymology

earlier anti-, f. F antichambre f. It. anticamera (as ANTE-, CHAMBER)