royal palace in Rome, 1838, from Mons Quirinalis in Rome (one of the seven hills, site of a former Papal palace), from Quirinus, said to be the divine name of Romulus, but really one of the original trinity of Roman gods, representing Mars. His feast (Quirinalia) was Feb. 17. Used metonymically for "the Italian civil government" (1917), especially as distinguished from the Vatican.
