grotto

Meanings

1. A small cave.
2. An artificial cavern-like retreat.
3. A Marian shrine, usually built in a cavern-like structure.
4. A local organization of cavers that typically organizes trips to caves and provides information and training for caving; a caving club.
5. A secretive name for a local group of underground Satanists.
6. A garden or roadside shrine with a small cave containing a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary (usually Our Lady of Lourdes and sometimes paired with a water feature)

Etymology

From Italian grotta, from Vulgar Latin grupta, from Classical Latin crypta. Doublet of crypt. The Philippine sense is from the holy cave in Lourdes, France.