eaves

PIE word
 *upér
From Middle English eves (“projecting lower edge of a roof”) [and other forms], from Old English efes, yfes, *ofes (“edge of a roof”), from Proto-West Germanic *ubisu (“hall”), from Proto-Germanic *ubiswō (compare Gothic 𐌿𐌱𐌹𐌶𐍅𐌰 (ubizwa), Old High German obasa (“hall; porch; roof”)), perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *upér (“above; over”) (whence over).

nb...

euez, euese, evese, ewse, eyues, eyuis, hevese, ouese, ouise, ovese

der

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-eaves.wav

Him that you term'd Sir, the good old Lord Gonzallo, / His teares runs downe his beard like winters drops / From eaues of reeds: […]

1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 16, column 2:

Thus night oft ſee me in thy pale career, / Till civil-ſuited morn appeer, / […] / Or uſher'd with a ſhower ſtill, / When the guſt hath blown his fill, / Ending on the ruſsling Leaves, / With minute drops from off the Eaves.

a. 1645, John Milton, “Il Penseroso”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 42:

By my window bowered round with leaves, / And down my cheeks the quick tears ran / Like twinkling rain-drops from the eaves, / When warm spring showers are passing o'er: […]

1818 August, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Rosalind and Helen”, in Rosalind and Helen, a Modern Eclogue; with Other Poems, London: […] [C. H. Reynell] for C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier, […], published 1819, →OCLC, page 22:

(architecture) The underside of a roof that extends beyond the external walls of a building.


transom

From Middle English traunsom; probably an alteration of Latin trānstrum (“crossbeam”).

a hinged glassed frame above such a crossbar

(architecture) A crosspiece over a door; a lintel.

(architecture) A horizontal glazing bar in a window.


temper

en-noun

temper (countable and uncountable, plural tempers)

From Middle English temperen, tempren, from Old English ġetemprian, temprian, borrowed from Latin temperō (“I divide or proportion duly, I moderate, I regulate; intransitive senses I am moderate, I am temperate”), from tempus (“time, fit season”). Compare also French tempérer. Doublet of tamper. See temporal.

der

(pottery, architecture) A non-plastic material, such as sand, added to clay to prevent shrinkage and cracking during drying or firing; tempering.


architrave

First attested 1563, borrowed from Italian architrave, from archi- (“main”) + trave (“beam”).

(architecture) The lowest part of an entablature; rests on the capitals of the columns.

I know that one hinge of this door has parted with the woodwork. Dry rot has turned the architrave to compacted dust.

2016, Ian McEwan, Nutshell, Vintage, page 17:

(architecture) The moldings (or other elements) framing a door, window or other rectangular opening.


trave

From Middle English trave, from Middle French trave, from Latin trabem, accusative of trabs (“beam, thing made using beams”).

(architecture) A section formed by crossbeams.


cryptoporticus

en-noun

cryptoporticus (plural cryptoporticuses or cryptoportici)

cryptoporticuses (plural)
cryptoportici (plural)
cryptoportico (alternative)

The close walkes, which were called cryptoporticus were not of choice but of necessitie, when extremitie of weather would not let them walke abroad.

1581, Richard Mulcaster, Positions, London: Longmans, Green and Company, published 1888, page 87:

(Roman architecture) A vaulted corridor or arcade at, or just below ground level; normally lit by openings in the upper part of the vault. Also a roofed promenade that is enclosed with side walls that have windows or openings instead of columns.


SOA

SOA (countable and uncountable, plural SOAs)

search-oriented architecture
search-oriented architecture#English

(computing, architecture) Initialism of search-oriented architecture.

service-oriented architecture
service-oriented architecture#English

(computing, architecture) Initialism of service-oriented architecture.


pier

From Middle English pere (“bridge pillar”), from Medieval Latin pera, from Old Northern French pire (“breakwater”), from Vulgar Latin *petricus, from Latin petra, from Ancient Greek πέτρα (pétra, “stone”).

Coordinate term: pile

(architecture) A rectangular pillar, or similar structure, that supports an arch, wall or roof, or the hinges of a gate.


exposed

exposed beam

exposed brick

(architecture, of a structure) Deliberately left uncovered for aesthetic effect.


cantilever

cantilevers (plural)
cantalever (alternative)
cantaliver (alternative)

First attested in the 1660s, probably from cant (“slope, edge, corner”) + lever, but the earliest form (c. 1610) was cantlapper. First element may also be Spanish can (“dog”), an architect's term for an end of timber jutting out of a wall, on which beams rested.

Eventually Sir John Fowler's and Sir Benjamin Baker's continuous steel girder bridge on the cantilever principle was adopted.

1941 January, the late John Phillimore, “The Forth Bridge 1890-1940”, in Railway Magazine, page 5:

He loved Litchfield, Sharon, Williamsburg; he preferred the Georgian, and he had theories about developing a truly American style. He was called a plodder by all the Kivis, and in turn he disliked their bleak blocks of Modernist cement, their glass-fronted hen-houses, their architectural spiders with cantilever claws.

1951, Sinclair Lewis, World So Wide, Chapter:

The underframe, which has been designed to take buffing loads of 200 tons both on the centre coupler and on the retractable side buffers, consists of two centre girders from which cantilevers project to support the solebars, which in turn carry the bodyside structure.

1951 May, “British Railways Standard Coaches”, in Railway Magazine, page 327:

The service stairs were next to the main stairs, separated only by a wall, but what a difference there was between them: the narrow back stairs, dangerously unrailed, under the bleak gleam of a skylight, each step worn down to a steep hollow, turned tightly in a deep grey shaft; whereas the great main sweep, a miracle of cantilevers, dividing and joining again, was hung with the portraits of prince-bishops, and had ears of corn in its wrought-iron banisters that trembled to the tread.

2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 10, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN:

The plank along which pirates made their victims walk was a cantilever. So is a diving board. As you walk along the plank, the unsupported ends dips [sic]. It's possible to arrange for two cantilevers to be connected at their unsupported ends, which would let you seamlessly cross from one cantilever to the other while also distributing your weight across both fixed ends.

2023 May 3, Philip Haigh, “The art and science of building bridges”, in RAIL, number 982, page 40:

(architecture) A beam anchored at one end and projecting into space, such as a long bracket projecting from a wall to support a balcony.


octostyle

The Parthenon in Athens is an octostyle, but most large Greek temples are hexastyle.

(architecture) A temple or portico with eight columns in front.


apophyge

From Ancient Greek ἀποφυγή (apophugḗ), from ἀπο- (apo-, “away”) and φυγή (phugḗ, “flight”).

(architecture) A curvature found on the top or bottom of certain columns.

apophyge

(architecture) a curvature found on the top or bottom of certain columns


modillion

Borrowed from Italian modiglione. Doublet of moellon.

1922, Claude Fayette Bragdon in The Beautiful Necessity: Seven Essays on Theosophy and Architecture, Essay II, Unity and Polarity
The familiar classic console or modillion is an example: although in general contour it is well adapted to its function as a supporting bracket, embedded in, and projecting from a wall, yet the scroll-like ornament with which its sides are embellished gives it the appearance of not entering the wall at all, but of being stuck against it in some miraculous manner.

(architecture) A decoratively carved supporting block atop a column.


skillion

From dialect skilling, from Middle English skyling.

(architecture) A room built against the back of another building, having a separate roof.


Attic

en-adj

Attic (comparative more Attic, superlative most Attic)

more Attic (comparative)
most Attic (superlative)

From Latin Atticus, from Ancient Greek Ἀττικός (Attikós), from some Pre-Greek demonym or toponym for Athens and its hinterland of Attica + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic: forming adjectives”). Equivalent to a modified and clipped Athens + -ic. Doublet of Atticus.

(historical) Of or related to Attica, ancient Athens and its hinterland, particularly:

(architecture) Of or related to ancient Athenian architecture.


Ionic

From Ancient Greek ἰωνικός (iōnikós, “related to Ionians”).

uder

(architecture) of an order of classical Greek architecture whose distinguishing feature is a capital with spiral volutes.


Perpendicular

en-adj

Perpendicular (comparative more Perpendicular, superlative most Perpendicular)

more Perpendicular (comparative)
most Perpendicular (superlative)

(architecture) Of a style of English Gothic architecture from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, marked by stiff and rectilinear lines, mostly vertical window-tracery, depressed or four-centre arch, fan-tracery vaulting, and panelled walls.


Roman

Roman (comparative more Roman, superlative most Roman)

more Roman (comparative)
most Roman (superlative)

From Old French Romain, from Latin Rōmānus. In reference to the Byzantine Empire, via the Byzantine Greek endonym Ῥωμαῖος (Rhōmaîos). By surface analysis, Rome + -an. Doublet of Romano.

(architecture) Of a style characterised by the size and boldness of its round arches and vaults, and having baths, aqueducts, basilicas, amphitheatres, etc.


Tuscan

From Middle English Tuscan, from Late Latin Tuscānus (“belonging to the Tusci”), a people of ancient Italy, from Tuscus, earlier *Truscus, shortened form of Etruscus (“Etruscan”).

der

(architecture) Belonging to the simplest of the five classical orders of architecture, being a Roman modification of the Doric style, with unfluted columns, and without triglyphs.


cornish

So the curve of Stonehenge, which is above 100 English feet, appears extraordinary large and well proportion'd, upon a height of 18 foot, which reaches to the top of the outer cornish; that of the inner cornishes is but 24 foot high, at a medium. For the cornishes of the inner part of Stonehenge, or that which Webb calls the cell, are not all of equal height, of which in proper place.

1730, William Stukeley, Stonehenge: A Temple Restor'd to the British Druids, page 11:

The four rooms in the length of this building have door places crown'd with double cornishes, as represented in the plate of that architecture, together with ornaments of the winged globe.

1743, Richard Pococke, A Description of the East and Some Other Countries, page 63:

And all the way along the edges here we'll be putting in cornishes. They're under the scaffolding there in the corner, you can take a look. These are six-inch cornishes.

2009, Ivan Vladislavic, Portrait with Keys: The City of Johannesburg Unlocked, page 114:

(architecture) Alternative form of cornice


clerestory

clerestories (plural)
clearstory (alternative)
clerstory (alternative)

From Middle English clerestory, from clere (“clear: light, lighted”) + story (“storey/story: level of a building”).

On the Visby-Västerhejde Railway there is a steam car. [...] The upperworks consist of a short clerestory coach body with end platforms and the engine chimney protruding from the roof like a stovepipe.

1939 July, “Overseas Railways: Baltic Island Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 49:

The cars built before 1913 had clerestory roofs, after the American style, and also were provided with gates and end vestibule platforms requiring gatemen.

1951 January, “The Inner Circle and its Rolling Stock”, in Railway Magazine, page 59:

(architecture) The upper part of a wall containing windows to let in natural light to a building, especially in the nave, transept and choir of a church or cathedral.


nervure

(architecture) One of the ribs in a groined vault; a projecting moulding.


airlock

airlocks (plural)
air lock (alternative)
air-lock (alternative)

→ Japanese: エアロック (earokku)

(architecture, informal) A vestibule, foyer or entranceway with doors to the exterior on one end and doors to the interior on the other, functioning to keep indoor and outdoor air, humidity, and air temperatures separate.


truss

From Middle English trusse, from Old French trousse, torse. Doublet of torse and trousse.

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-truss.wav

The weight of the wrought-ironwork in each of the trusses is 460 tons, inclusive of the longitudinal and cross girders weighing 130 tons.

1952 September, “Chepstow River Bridge Centenary”, in Railway Magazine, page 623:

(architecture) A structure made up of one or more triangular units made from straight beams of wood or metal, which is used to support a structure as in a roof or bridge.

фе́рма

стропи́льная


Art Deco

art deco (alternative)
Art Déco (alternative)

/ˌɑːɹt ˈdɛkəʊ/

/ˌɑɹt ˈdɛkoʊ/

Borrowed from French Art déco, first used in the catalogue of an exhibition at the Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, France, in 1966. Art déco is a clipping of arts décoratifs (“decorative arts”) (from the name of an exhibition called L’Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (The International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) held in Paris in 1925), from arts (plural of art (“art”)) + décoratifs (plural of décoratif (“decorative”)).

ref

From the collection of the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris (Museum of Modern Art of Paris), France.

clipping

A pair of Armada flagons were bought for £1,900 and a four-piece Art Deco tea set on a matching tray was sold at £1,500.

1978 July 26, Paula Judge, “Saleroom: Jane Austen Ms [manuscript] sold for £38,000”, in Financial Times, number 27,620, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 5, column 8:

These properties reflect the wide variety of resources that represent the American heritage. They include skyscrapers in Chicago and mining structures in Alaska; prehistoric petroglyphs in Nevada and World War II fortifications in Guam; a district of art deco buildings in Miami and a district of prominent artists' and writers' homes in Santa Fe.

1989, “Introduction”, in National Register of Historic Places 1966–1988, Washington, D.C.: National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers; National Park Service; Nashville, Tenn.: American Association for State and Local History, →ISBN, page ix, column 1:

Always in the same district, at 61 Olive Street, is the Oviatt Building, one of [the] most important examples of Art Deco architecture found within Los Angeles city limits, and once a prestigious clothing shop boasting such clients as Rudolph Valentino and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. […] The store was replaced by today's Rex II Restaurant, decorated as an^([sic – meaning a]) 1920s ocean liner in keeping with the overall Art Deco decor.

1995, Rosanna Cirigliano, “Los Angeles”, in California, Florence: Casa Editrice Bonechi; San Francisco, Calif.: Smith Novelty Company, →ISBN, page 119:

This project has stripped away modern PVCu and aluminium shop fronts to reveal original or 1930s Art Deco work, with judicious repairs and replacements as necessary, plus stonework repairs and the restoration of traditional London Transport signage.

2021 December 15, Robin Leleux, “Awards Honour the Best Restoration Projects: The Great Western Railway Craft Skills Award: Victoria Arcade”, in Rail, number 946, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 59:

(architecture, art, also attributive) A style of decorative art (often used in household objects) and architecture originating in the 1920s and 1930s, characterized by bold geometric forms, strong contrasting colours, and simple composition.

Chrysler Building
Paul Follot
William Van Alen

Art Deco

style of decorative art and architecture


dish out

en-verb

dish out (third-person singular simple present dishes out, present participle dishing out, simple past and past participle dished out)

dishes out (present singular third-person)
dishing out (participle present)
dished out (participle past)
dished out (past)

(transitive, architecture) To hollow out, as a gutter in stone or wood.


jetty

From French jetée (“pier, jetty, causeway”), from jeter. Compare jet, jutty.

(architecture) A part of a building that jets or projects beyond the rest, and overhangs the wall below.


LF

en-noun

LF (countable and uncountable, plural LFs)

(architecture, engineering, construction) Initialism of linear feet.


talon

From Middle English talon, taloun, from Old French talon (“heel, spur”), from Medieval Latin tālōnem, from Vulgar Latin *tālōnis, from Latin tālus (“ankle”).

(architecture) A kind of moulding, concave at the bottom and convex at the top; an ogee. (When the concave part is at the top, it is called an inverted talon.)


perron

From Middle French pierre (“stone”), from Anglo-Norman perron.

(architecture) A platform outside the raised entrance to a church or large building, or the steps leading to such a platform. US: stoop.


merlon

Borrowed from French merlon, from Italian merlone (“merlon”), from merlo (“merlon”) + -one (suffix forming augmentatives). Merlo is derived from Late Latin merulus, merlus, possibly from Latin merula (“blackbird”) (as merlons resemble a row of birds perched on a wall), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ems- (“black; blackbird”). The English word is cognate with Italian mergolo (“battlement; pinnacle”), Portuguese merlão, Spanish merlón (“merlon”).

cog

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-merlon.wav

The Merlons, to the end that they may be good, ought to be made of Earth, the most eaſie to be tempered that may be: And this Earth ought alſo to be mixed with Withy Twigs, or Brambles, provided they take Root, after which they are to be lined with good Turff.

1693, “Of the Embrasures or Merlons”, in Abel Swall, transl., The New Method of Fortification, as Practised by Monsieur de Vauban, Engineer General of France. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Abell Swall; […], →OCLC, book IV, page 75:

The parapet conſiſts of two parts, namely, the wall and the merlons. [...] The Merlons are detached pieces of the parapet, leaving openings called Embrasures, thro' which the cannon deliver their ſhot.

1754, J[ohn] Robertson, “A Treatise of Marine Fortification”, in The Elements of Navigation; Containing the Theory and Practice. […], volume II, London: […] J[ohn] Nourse, […], →OCLC, section II (Of Batteries), paragraph 26, page 610:

A battery of guns is a bank of earth thrown up to cover the men that are to ſerve the guns; this bank is cut into holes for the cannons to fire through, about 12 feet diſtant from each other. Theſe holes are called embraſures, and the maſſes of earth between them are called merlons; [...]

1756 July, “An Account of the Siege and Capture of Port Mahon […]”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym; Edward Cave], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, volume XXVI, London: […] D[avid] Henry and R. Cave, […], →OCLC, footnote, page 319, column 2:

Along the walls, at the distance of every hundred yards, were square stone towers. In the parapets were also embrasures, and holes in merlons for archery; but there were no cannon, except a few old wrought-iron pieces near the gate.

1797, George Staunton, “Passage to the Ladrone Islands, near Macao; […]”, in An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China; […] In Two Volumes, […], volume I, London: […] G[eorge] Nicol, […], →OCLC, page 419:

[T]he property of sloping surfaces [...] causes a cannon ball from the fortress, which enters by the mouth and strikes one cheek of an embrasure, to glance off without penetrating through the merlon on that side. Such a ball is not therefore likely to prove fatal to those men who are covered by the merlon, but to those only who stand immediately behind the embrasure, and not always even to them, for if it should strike the very sloping part of the cheek, it may be reflected upwards.

1832, C[harles] W[illiam] Pasley, “Of the Space that Must be Allowed, for the Extreme Half Merlon at the Flank of a Battery, when Finished without an Empaulment”, in Rules, Chiefly Deduced from Experiment, for Conducting the Practical Operations of a Siege, Chatham, Kent: […] Establishment for Field Instruction, →OCLC, part II (Containing an Essay on the Construction of Batteries in the Field), section I (The Several Kinds of Batteries Defined. […]), page 16:

He had appropriated a thick tapestry rope in the great hall, and now, having reached the parapet, he looped the soft strong cord about the girl's hips and lowered her to the earth. Then, making one end fast to a merlon, he slid down after her.

1934 August, Robert E[rvin] Howard, “The Devil in Iron”, in Farnsworth Wright, editor, Weird Tales: A Magazine of the Bizarre and Unusual, Indianapolis, Ind.: Popular Fiction Pub. Co., →OCLC; republished as The Devil in Iron, [Auckland]: The Floating Press, 2013, →ISBN, page 42:

The exterior façades of the Cordoba mosque are carefully composed, with buttresses interspersed with doorways which reflect the framed arch of the mihrab. The upper line of the wall is given a dramatic and eastern finish with a row of stepped merlons.

1991, Barbara Brend, “Lands of the West: Egypt, North Africa and Spain”, in Islamic Art, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 54:

The castle spread out before him, its high solid sandstone walls, with their crenel and merlon battlements ending in round towers, was a magnificent sight.

2012, James Herbert, chapter 21, in Ash, London: Pan Books, published 2013, →ISBN, page 141:

(architecture, military, historical) Any of the upright projections between the embrasures of a battlement, originally for archers to shield behind while shooting arrows over the embrasures, or through loopholes in the merlons.

kanteel

any of the upright projections between the embrasures of a battlement


embrasure

/ɪmˈbɹeɪʒə(ɹ)/

But there were less casualties than might have been expected, and the barricade rose steadily, a wall of concrete two feet thick, with embrasures for two machine-guns and a small field gun.

1938 April, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter VI, in Homage to Catalonia, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC:

(architecture, military) Any of the indentations between the merlons of a battlement; an opening in a wall or parapet through which ordnance can be fired.

مَزْغَل

any of the indentations between the merlons of a battlement


sabat

(architecture) A roofing structure with the street beneath it in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern architecture, serving to support buildings or to cool pedestrians by maximizing daytime shade and accelerating breezes.


apsis

From Latin apsis, hapsis, from Ancient Greek ἁψίς (hapsís, “arch, vault”). See also apse.

der

Like Henry's collegiate church […] the cathedral is a cruciform basilica of the double bay system with four square bays in the central nave, western transoms, a quadrum for the choir, an apsis, and a transept with auxiliary apses.

2019, A Companion to Medieval Lübeck, page 96:

(architecture) A recess or projection, with a dome or vault, at the east end of a church; an apse.


daylight

en-verb

daylight (third-person singular simple present daylights, present participle daylighting, simple past and past participle daylighted or daylit)

daylights (present singular third-person)
daylighting (participle present)
daylighted (participle past)
daylighted (past)
daylit (participle past)
daylit (past)
day-light (alternative)

From Middle English daye-lighte, dey liȝht, dailiȝt, day-liht, dai-liht (also as days lyȝt, daies liht), equivalent to day + light. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Deegeslucht, Daisljoacht (“daylight”), West Frisian deiljocht (“daylight”), Dutch daglicht (“daylight”), German Tageslicht (“daylight”).

(architecture) To provide sources of natural illumination such as skylights or windows.


footing

en-noun

footing (countable and uncountable, plural footings)

From Middle English fotyng; equivalent to foot + -ing.

(architecture, engineering) The thickened or sloping portion of a wall, or of an embankment at its foot; foundation.


gable

The southern English term gable probably came from Old French gable (compare modern French gâble), from Old Norse gafl. The northern form gavel is perhaps also akin to Old Norse gafl, masculine, of the same meaning (compare Swedish gavel, Danish gavl). See gafl for more etymology information.

It was a queer sort of place—a gable-ended old house, one side palsied as it were, and leaning over sadly.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 2, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 10:

Although there were important developments in the internal organization of Cape houses during this period, their most obvious element is the gable. End-gables were common in medieval northern European and particularly Dutch buildings, but central gables set into the long side of roofs were more unusual and became the quintessential feature of the Cape Dutch style.

2002, Tony Pinchuck, Barbara McCrea, South Africa, →ISBN:

Qionglin Village in Kinhu with its well-preserved ancestral halls, arches, and old Fujian-style houses with interesting gables is famous for having more shrines than any other village on Kinmen.

2017 March, Piera Chen, Dinah Gardner, Lonely Planet Taiwan (Lonely Planet), 10th edition (Travel), Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd, →ISBN, →OCLC, page https://books.google.com/books?id=73fDDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT700&lpg=PT700:

(architecture) The triangular area at the peak of an external wall adjacent to, and terminating, two sloped roof surfaces (pitches).


exedra

From Ancient Greek ἐξ (ex, “out of”) + ἕδρα (hédra, “seat”).

(architecture) A semicircular recess, with stone benches, used as a place for discussion.


pillar

From Middle English piler, from Old French pilier, from Medieval Latin or Vulgar Latin *pilāre (“a pillar”), from Latin pila (“a pillar, pier, mole”).

(architecture) A large post, often used as supporting architecture.


stanza

From Italian stanza, from Vulgar Latin *stantia (“standing, stopping-place”), from Latin stāns, stantis, from stō, stāre, from Proto-Italic *staēō, from Proto-Indo-European *sth₂éh₁yeti, stative verb from *steh₂- (whence English stand). Doublet of stance.

der

(architecture) An apartment or division in a building.


balcony

From Italian balcone (“balcony, floor-length window”), from Old Italian balcone (“scaffold”) from Lombardic *balk, *balko (“beam”), from Proto-Germanic *balkô (“beam”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- (“beam, pile, prop”). Akin to Old High German balco, balcho (“beam”), Old English balca (“beam, ridge”). More at balk.

I sprang a step forward; when two shadows were distinctly traced on the moonlit myrtle! Then two figures stood upon the balcony. A young cavalier jumped from the balustrade, and hurried down the path that led to the garden, where I well remember a gate opened on an unfrequented lane.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 132:

The next day as the three travelers were approaching the town, Peter went out on the balcony to pray.

2002, The Message translation of The Bible, Book of Acts 10:9–13

(architecture) An accessible structure extending from a building, especially outside a window.


indeterminate

en-adj

indeterminate (comparative more indeterminate, superlative most indeterminate)

more indeterminate (comparative)
most indeterminate (superlative)

It bears an affinity to the problem of indeterminate architecture—the indeterminate residential area.

2014, David Oakley, The Phenomenon of Architecture in Cultures in Change, page 196:

(architecture) Designed to allow the incorporation of future changes whose nature is not yet known.


trophy

→ Japanese: トロフィー (torofī)

→ Korean: 트로피 (teuropi)

→ Malayalam: ട്രോഫി (ṭrōphi)

From Middle French trophée, from Latin trophaeum (“a sign of victory, a monument”), tropaeum, from Ancient Greek τρόπαιον (trópaion, “monument of an enemy's defeat”), from neuter of τροπαῖος (tropaîos, “of defeat”), from τροπή (tropḗ, “a rout, a turning of an enemy”).

трафе́й

object taken by a hunter or conqueror of their success

The souvenirs which many killers retain of their victims are often described as trophies, and Norman Bates's taxidermic interests derived from the real-life Ed Gein.

1994, Philip Jenkins, Using Murder: The Social Construction of Serial Homicide, →ISBN, page 117:

A trophy from this murder would have been of great importance.

2001, R. Michael Gordon, Alias Jack the Ripper: Beyond the Usual Whitechapel Suspects, →ISBN, page 82:

The offender is also likely to mentally relive his killings, often with the help of souvenirs or trophies, such as a bracelet or a body part taken from the victim.

2004, Ronald F. Becker, Criminal Investigation, →ISBN, page 168:

(art, architecture) A display of weaponry and other militaria, often captured from a defeated enemy, as an ornament designed for the purpose of triumphalist display by a victor or as a show of military prowess by a monarch.


engawa

Romanization of Japanese 縁側 (engawa) or 掾側 (engawa).

(Japanese architecture) A veranda or terrace surrounding a house.


firewall

From fire + wall. Compare West Frisian brânmuorre, Dutch brandmuur, German Brandmauer, Feuermauer, Swedish brandvägg, brandmur, Icelandic eldvegg. The verb sense for using maximum power or acceleration comes from the engine's firewall being the limit of forward movement of the throttle controls on many simpler vehicles; thus, to get the maximum engine output, one would push the throttle levers or pedal all the way to the firewall.

(architecture) A fireproof barrier used to prevent the spread of fire between or through buildings, structures, electrical substation transformers, or within an aircraft or vehicle.


pre-stressed

en-adj

pre-stressed (comparative more pre-stressed, superlative most pre-stressed)

more pre-stressed (comparative)
most pre-stressed (superlative)

pre-stressed concrete

(engineering, architecture) Of a structural member, having stress already applied during the manufacturing process in the opposite direction to the stress expected in use.


bastion

First attested in 1562. From French bastion, from Old French bastille (“fortress”).

[…] Fort Camosun had swelled herself from being a little Hudson's Bay Fort, inside a stockade with bastions at the corners, into being the little town of Victoria, and the capital of British Columbia.

1942, Emily Carr, “Beginnings”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC:

(architecture) A projecting part of a rampart or other fortification.


aileron

Borrowed from French aileron, diminutive of aile (“wing”), also refers to the extremities of a bird's wings used to control their flight. It first appeared in print in the 7th edition of Cassell's French-English Dictionary of 1877, with its lead meaning of "small wing". In the context of powered airplanes it appears in print about 1908, in the French aviation journal L'Aérophile.

(architecture) A half gable, as at the end of a penthouse or of the aisle of a church.


decorated

decorated (comparative more decorated, superlative most decorated)

more decorated (comparative)
most decorated (superlative)

(architecture, not comparable) in one of the styles of English Gothic architecture


sprocket

sprockets (plural)
splocket (alternative)

Unknown. First attested in the 16th century. Perhaps related to Italian rocchetto (“spool”), spoletta (“spool”), sprone (“spur”), or English spoke, spike, spur.

(architecture) A flared extension at the base of a sloped roof.


socle

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-socle.wav

From French socle, from Italian zoccolo (“wooden shoe”), from Latin socculus, diminutive of soccus (“sock”). Doublet of zoccolo.

(architecture) A low plinth or pedestal used to display a statue or other artwork.

(architecture) A plain face or plinth at the foot of a wall.


baguette

Borrowed from French baguette (“stick”), from Italian bacchetta.

(architecture) A small molding, like the astragal, but smaller; a bead.


Jesse

From Ancient Greek Ἰεσσαί (Iessaí), from Hebrew יִשַׁי (Yishai).

(architecture) A representation of the genealogy of Christ, in decorative art, such as a genealogical tree in stained glass or a branched candlestick.


barleycorn

(architecture, woodworking) A small groove between two moldings.


cupola

Borrowed from Italian cupola, from Latin cūpula (“little tub”); from Latin cūpa, cuppa (“cup”); named for its resemblance to a cup turned over.

the light falling dimly through the foggy cupola.

1886, Robert Louis Stephenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde:

The stations on the City & South London were small but pretty, with cupolas to accommodate the winding gear of the small and claustrophobic hydraulic lifts.

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 101:

(architecture) A dome-shaped ornamental structure located on top of a larger roof or dome.

قُبَّة

architecture: dome-shaped ornamental structure


deafening

en-noun

deafening (countable and uncountable, plural deafenings)


ogive

From late Middle English ogif, egeve, egeove, from Old French ogive, œgive, augive. Doublet of ogee.

(architecture) A Gothic pointed arch, or a rib of a Gothic vault.


casing

(architecture) The decorative trim around a door or window.


rotunda

rotundas (plural)
rotundae (plural)
Rotunda (alternative)

Learned borrowing from Latin rotunda, from rotundus (“round”). In the architectural sense, from Sancta Maria Rotunda (the name for a church in the Pantheon).

The rotunda begun but never completed by Abbot Wulfric (1047–59) at St Augustine’s Abbey as a link between the church of St Mary and that of St Peter and St Paul is an unusual and ambitious example of mid-eleventh-century English architecture which partly survives (fig. 4.6, top). […] Many of these rotundae are known to have had a special funerary function (as was the case at Canterbury).

1976, Bridget Cherry, “Ecclesiastical architecture”, in David M[ackenzie] Wilson, editor, The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England, London: Methuen & Co Ltd, →ISBN, pages 188–189:

The purely Greek character of the temple is revealed in the fact that there is no portico aligning the structure; Roman tholoi and rotundae are usually distinguished by a portico.

1998, “Antiquity”, in Bruce Almberg, Charles Earle, Michael Robinson, Katja Steiner, transl., edited by Stefan Grundmann, The Architecture of Rome: An Architectural History in 400 Individual Presentations, Stuttgart, London: Edition Axel Menges, →ISBN, page 29, column 2:

Access to the shafts is gained via a brick entrance rotunda below a glass dome. The walls of these rotundae are built over the outer edge of caissons which hold the shafts; […]

2014 December, Mary Mills, “Foot Tunnels beneath the River Thames”, in Nick Catford, editor, Subterranea, number 37, Ascot, Berkshire: Subterranea Britannica, →ISSN, page 66, column 2:

(architecture) A round building, usually small, often with a dome.

ротонда

architecture: round building, often with a dome


ossature

From French ossature, from Latin os (“bone”) + -ature.

(architecture) Any supporting framework under a vault, roof etc.


stilted

en-adj

stilted (comparative more stilted, superlative most stilted)

more stilted (comparative)
most stilted (superlative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-stilted.wav

In Winchester Cathedral and Romsey Abbey Church, we have examples of what is called the stilted or horse-shoe arch, which is where the curvature of the arch does not spring immediately from the capitals or imposts of the piers, but the extreme points of the semicircle are continued straight down below the spring of the curve before they rest on the imposts, thus giving the idea of an arch stilted or raised, and somewhat approximating in form that of a horse-shoe.

1845, Matthew Holbeche Bloxam, “Of the Anglo-Norman Style”, in The Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture. With an Explanation of Technical Terms, and a Centenary of Ancient Terms, 7th edition, London: David Bogue, […], →OCLC, page 124:

The stilted arch was a good and much used expedient in ancient and modern times.

1920, G[eorg Gottlob] Ungewitter, K. Mohrmann, “Vaults”, in N[athan] Clifford Ricker, transl., Manual of Gothic Construction … Rewritten by K. Mohrmann … Leipzig 1890, 3rd edition, Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois, →OCLC, page 84:

The tombs have similar tombstones, each fashioned out of a rectangular block topped with another block in the form of a half drum, and with stilted semi-circular slabs for the head and foot stones.

2003, Mehrdad Shokoohy, “Kayalpatnam, the Renowned Muslim Port of Qā’il”, in Muslim Architecture of South India: The Sultanate of Ma’bar and the Traditions of Maritime Settlers on the Malabar and Coromandel Coasts (Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Goa), London, New York, N.Y.: RoutledgeCurzon, →ISBN, part 1 (The Coromandel Coast (Tamil Nadu)), page 129, column 2:

(architecture) Of a building or architectural feature such as an arch or vault: supported by stilts (“supporting pillars or posts”); also (generally) having the main part raised above the usual level by some structure.


lat

lats (plural)
lât (alternative)
lāt (alternative)
lath (alternative)

Borrowed from Hindi लाट (lāṭ, “pillar; minaret; staff, club”), लाठ (lāṭh, “long staff; cudgel”), etc.

bor+

A high pillar of stone called Bheem-lat, or the Tealee, or oilman's lat or staff.

1801, “Miscellaneous Tracts”, in Asiatic Annual Register, page 313:

(architecture) A monumental pillar, particularly the Buddhist columns erected in East India.


high tech

(architecture) A Late Modern architectural style incorporating elements of high-technology industry and seeking to communicate the underlying structure and function of a building.


zocle

(architecture) Alternative form of socle


zocco

Borrowed from Italian zocco, from Latin soccus. Doublet of sock.


composite

en-adj

composite (comparative more composite, superlative most composite)

more composite (comparative)
most composite (superlative)

Borrowed from Middle French composite, from Latin compositus, past participle of compōnō (“put together”). Doublet of compost, compote, and kompot.

(architecture) Being a mixture of Ionic and Corinthian styles.

komposiitti-

being a mixture of Ionic and Corinthian styles


mezzanine

PIE word
 *médʰyos
The noun is borrowed from French mezzanine, and from its etymon Italian mezzanino, from mezzano (“(adjective) middle; (noun) go-between”) + -ino (diminutive suffix). Mezzano is derived from Latin mediānus (“central, middle”, adjective), from medius (“mid, middle”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“middle”)) + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’).
The adjective and verb are derived from the noun.

der

On our way to the top floor, we stopped at the mezzanine.

[W]ater closet on mezzanine provided with opaque singlepane oblong window, tipup seat, bracket lamp, brass tierod brace, armrests, footstool and artistic oleograph on inner face of door: […]

1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 17: Ithaca]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part III [Nostos], page 666:

In these sheds, individual products rest on short racks, so they can be reached more easily by employees who pick and box orders. In order to fit more racks, companies put in several mezzanine levels. As a result, the sheds rise taller: 21 metres, compared to B2B’s 15 metres.

2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-07-11:

On arrival at Birmingham New Street, I make my way upstairs to the mezzanine to get shots of an almost deserted concourse, polka-dotted with social distancing circles like some strange board-game.

2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 68:

An intermediate floor or storey in between the main floors of a building; specifically, one that is directly above the ground floor which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, and so resembles a large balcony overlooking the ground floor; an entresol.

mezzanin

especially when between the two lowest floors above ground

(by extension) An apartment, room, etc., on such an intermediate floor.

(Canada, US) The lowest balcony in an auditorium, cinema, theatre, etc.; the dress circle.

Additional flooring laid over a floor to bring it up to some height or level.

In full mezzanine window: a small window at the height of a mezzanine floor (sense 1.1) or an attic, used to light these floors.


eave

A back-formation of eaves, from a misinterpretation of the -s ending as forming a plural.

Features such as shutters, eave brackets, transoms, a wraparound porch, and a pergola all help establish the style of this home.

2006 February, Jill Kirchner Simpson, “Building a Modular Home”, in Country Living, volume 29, number 2, page 51:

(architecture) Alternative form of eaves (“the underside of a roof that extends beyond the external walls of a building”)


coffer

coffers (plural)
copher (alternative)
cophre (alternative)

From Middle English cofre, coffre, from Old French cofre, coffre, from Latin cophinus (“basket”), from Ancient Greek κόφινος (kóphinos, “basket”). Doublet of coffin. Cognate with German Koffer (“a suitcase”).

Prolapsed and waterstained ceiling, the sagging coffers.

1979, Cormac McCarthy, Suttree, Random House, page 135:

(architecture) An ornamental sunken panel in a ceiling or dome.


merus

From Ancient Greek μηρός (mērós, “thigh”).

(architecture) The plane surface between the channels of a triglyph.


viscous damper

(architecture) a form of shock absorber designed to reduce structural damage to buildings caused by earthquakes


tempering

Clay and tempering were packed around the pole together with plenty of water[.]

1983, Barry Cunliffe, chapter 6, in Danebury Hillfort, Stroud: Tempus:

(pottery, architecture) A non-plastic material, such as sand, added to clay to prevent shrinkage and cracking during drying or firing; temper.


sconce

Borrowed from Middle Dutch schans, cognate with German Schanze.


caracole

caracoles (plural)
caracol (alternative)

Borrowed from French caracole (noun, literally “snail's shell”), caracoler (verb).


orientalism

en-noun

orientalism (countable and uncountable, plural orientalisms)

orientalisms (plural)
Orientalism (alternative)

From French orientalisme, from oriental (“eastern, Oriental”). Equivalent to Oriental + -ism.

(art, architecture, literature) The tendency to represent eastern subjects, to assume stylistical characteristics original of the East.

اِسْتِشْراق

the tendency to represent eastern subjects


Tudor

en-adj

Tudor (comparative more Tudor, superlative most Tudor)

more Tudor (comparative)
most Tudor (superlative)

Borrowed from Welsh Tudur (“Theodoric”), from Proto-Celtic *Toutorīxs, later adopted as the surname of a British royal family. Piecewise doublet of Theodoric, Theoderic, Terry, and Derek.

piecewise doublet

A massive Tudor estate with a circular driveway, it looked more like an English finishing school than a home.

2015, Paul Beatty, The Sellout, Oneworld Publications (2016), page 247:

(architecture) In the style of English buildings of the sixteenth century; using exposed wooden beams on the exterior.

Túdarach

in the style of English buildings of the sixteenth century


stele

steles (plural)
stelai (plural)
stélé (alternative)
stelè (alternative)

From Ancient Greek στήλη (stḗlē, “upright rock; pillar; column”), plural form στῆλαι (stêlai). Doublet of stela.

uder

Stele. The ornaments on the ridge of a Greek temple, answering to the antefixæ on the summit of the flank entablatures, are thus designated.

c. 1840, Hosking, "Architecture" in Encyclopædia Britannica, III 470

(architecture, archaeology, obsolete) An acroterion, the decoration on the ridge of an ancient Greek building such as a temple.


pendentive

(architecture) The concave triangular sections of vaulting that provide the transition between a dome and the square base on which it is set and transfer the weight of the dome.


revel

From Latin revellere; re- + vellere (“to pluck, pull”).

(architecture) Alternative form of reveal


triforium

en-noun

triforium (plural triforia or triforiums)

/tɹaɪ̯ˈfɔːɹɪəm/

From Medieval Latin triforium, from tria (“three”) + for (“opening”) + -ium.

(architecture) The gallery of arches above the side-aisle vaulting in the nave of a church.


colonnette

(architecture) a small, thin column, especially one used to support an arcade


Ionian

en-adj

Ionian (comparative more Ionian, superlative most Ionian)

more Ionian (comparative)
most Ionian (superlative)

* (Hellenic, Ionia, architecture): Ionia + -n
* (moon of Jupiter): Io + -n- + -ian

(architecture) Alternative form of Ionic.

Synonym of Ionic.
Alternative form of Ionic.


drip

en-noun

drip (countable and uncountable, plural drips)

From Middle English drippe, from the verb (see above). Compare West Frisian drip (“drip”), Dutch drup (“drip”), Danish dryp (“drip”).
(style, swagger): Compare the verb sense "to have a superabundance of valuable things".

(architecture) That part of a cornice, sill course, or other horizontal member, which projects beyond the rest, and has a section designed to throw off rainwater.


dormant

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin dormiēns, present participle of dormiō (“I sleep”).

dormaunt (alternative)
dormient (alternative)


dormant

dormants (plural)
dormaunt (alternative)
dormient (alternative)


modulation

modulation (countable and uncountable, plural modulations)

/ˌmɑd͡ʒəˈleɪʃən/

From Late Middle English modulacion, modulacioun (“act of making music or singing; harmony; melody, song”), from Middle French modulation (modern French modulation), and directly from its etymon Latin modulātiō (“regular or rhythmical measure, modulation; inflection of tone; (architecture) calculation of measurements from a standard unit; (Late Latin) act of making music or singing; melody, song”), from modulātus (“modulated”) + -iō (suffix forming abstract nouns from verbs). Modulātus is a perfect participle of modulor (“to beat time; to make music or sing; to measure; etc.”), from modulus (“rhythmical measure, interval; rhythm; small interval or measure, etc.”) + -or (suffix forming certain inflections of verbs); and modulus is from modus (“measure; method; etc.”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure; etc.”)) + -ulus (diminutive suffix). By surface analysis, modulat(e) + -ion (suffix denoting an action or process, or its result).

listen/core

Modulation vocal music example duple.mid

изменение

modification or regulation of something to achieve an appropriate measure or proportion; an instance of this

About Theatres, ſaith He [Vitruvius], are Porticoes, and VValks, vvhich appear ought to be ſo placed, as they muſt be double. And have the outvvard Columns Dorick vvith Architraves, and Ornaments made from the rule of the Dorick modulation.

1665, John Webb, A Vindication of Stone-Heng Restored: […], London: […] R[alph] Davenport for Tho[mas] Bassett, […], →OCLC, page 62:

(architecture, uncountable, rare) Modification of the parts of a classical Greek or Roman building to achieve appropriate proportions by measuring in modules (“standard units of measure, usually the diameter or radius of a column at the base of a shaft”).


hoarding

(architecture, historical) A roofed wooden shield placed over the battlements of a castle and projecting from them.

cadafal

roofed wooden shield over the battlements


Queenslander

From Queensland + -er (suffix attached to placename proper nouns denoting inhabitants or residents of those places).

suffix

Originally built in 1907 and designed by New Zealand-born architect R[obert] S[mith] (Robin) Dods, Alma-den was a high-set Queenslander, with a large verandah around three sides of the house. Underneath in the front, Ted had a small study-cum-library-cum-hobby space, and from the time the family moved to New Farm he began to collect a library.

1994, Ross Fitzgerald, “Labour in Power, 1915–1919”, in “Red Ted”: The Life of E. G. Theodore, St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, →ISBN, page 74:

[A] conveniently located 4-star B&B in a restored traditional Queenslander, offering 6 spacious en suites and 1 luxury suite with spa, pool and off-street parking.

2003, Darroch Donald, East Coast Australia: Sydney to Cairns (Footprint Handbooks), Bath, Somerset: Footprint, →ISBN:

Any house built substantially of wood and lasting more than twenty years is now a "Queenslander" it seems and commands a premium. […] The Queenslander lifestyle is meant to convey a mood of summer indolence, perhaps by the pool but certainly taking in a verandah and an open-plan weekend in which cold drinks and friends replace the claustrophobia and TV of the brick bungalow. […] There is also a pleasing sense of history to the Queenslander: the patina of tradition is added to what is a functionally pleasant building.

2006 winter, Melissa Lucashenko, “Not Quite White in the Head”, in Frank Stewart, Larissa Behrendt, Barry Lopez, Mark Tredinnick, editors, Where The Rivers Meet: New Writing from Australia (Mānoa; volume 18, number 2), Honolulu, Hi.: University of Hawaiʻi Press, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 29:

I live in a quintessential (Australian) building type myself—a high-set ‘Queenslander’ on Captain [James] Cook’s tropical Cape Tribulation coast—and some of the details I love most about it are its Deco influences—[…]

2021 October 20, Joseph Brennan, “A Key Part of Our Diverse Railway Heritage”, in Rail, number 942, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 56:

(Australia, architecture) A house built in an architectural style found in Queensland, characterized by being raised up on stumps about two metres off the ground, and having wide verandahs around it.

クインズランド式住宅

クイーンスランドしき じゅうたく


reins

From Old French reins, see also rein in French.

(architecture) The parts of a vault between the crown and the spring or abutment, including, and having especial reference to, the loading or filling behind the shell of the vault.


skylight

(architecture) A window, dome, or opening in the roof or ceiling, to admit natural light.


taenia

taenias (plural)
taeniae (plural)
tænia (alternative)
tenia (alternative)

From Latin taenia, from Ancient Greek ταινία (tainía, “ribbon, tape”).

uder

2004, William Bell Dinsmoor, The Propylaia to the Athenian Acropolis, Volume 2: The Classical Building, page 165,
The height of the taenia was likewise determined with regard to the total height of the epistyle, and again, although we should not expect a proportion of less than one-twelfth of the total height (as in the Parthenon), it is reduced to one-thirteenth, executed as 0.089-0.090 m.

(architecture, Doric architecture) A band between the frieze and architrave in the Doric order.


arcading

en-noun

arcading (countable and uncountable, plural arcadings)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-arcading.wav

[…] the intimate and cloistered loveliness of the chancel, with its pointed arcading, graceful ribbed vault and five narrow east lancets, led his attention on and focused it first upon the remote glow of the sanctuary.

1934, Dorothy L. Sayers, The Nine Tailors, London: Victor Golancz:

(countable, architecture) An arrangement of arcades.


machicolation

machicolation (countable and uncountable, plural machicolations)

/məˌt͡ʃɪkəˈleɪʃən/

Krak des Chevaliers
Lalinde
Nouvelle-Aquitaine

From Late Latin machicol(amentum) (“machicolation”) + -ation (suffix indicating an action or process). Machicolamentum may be derived from Old French macher (“to chew; to crush”) (modern French mâcher) + col (“neck”) + Latin -mentum (suffix indicating an instrument or medium, or the result of something). The English word is cognate with Middle English machecolled (“having machicolations”), machecolling (“act of constructing machicolation; the openings making up the machicolation”), Middle French machecoleis (modern French mâchicoulis (“machicolation”)), Latin machecollum (“machicolation”), Occitan machacol.

cog

Leibourn Caſtle, Kent. A proſpect of the front of that caſtle. Over the gate, we are told, was a machicolation or contrivance, from whence, in caſe of a ſudden attack, great ſtones, boiling water, or melted lead, might be thrown down upon the aſſailants.

1773 October, “III. The Antiquities of England and Wales: Being a Collection of Views of the Most Remarkable Ruins and Antient Buildings, Accurately Drawn on the Spot. […] By Francis Grose, Esq. F.A.S. Vol. I. 4to. 2l. 2s. 6d. Hooper. [Concluded.] [book review]”, in The Critical Review: Or, Annals of Literature (Series the Fifth), volume XXXVI, London: Printed for A. Hamilton, […], →OCLC, page 268:

There is another feature of this proverbial place which seems to have contributed to the phrase's significance—that is, the Blarney stone. [...] There is one stone, on the very battlement of the castle, forming the outward surface, the machicolation, or opening, through which stones, hot water, melted lead, or anything of that ardent character used, long ago, to be pitched on the heads of people coming after their cattle, and trying to beat in the outer gate. [...] To kiss it, a man should be held by the heels, dipped through the machicolation with his head about a hundred feet or so from the ground, and his life in the hands of a great many jokers, holding on desperately by the battlement and the man, and wishing the latter all manner of mellifluousness and good luck for the remainder of his life!

1851 October, William Dowe, “A Gossip about Blarney”, in Sartain’s Union Magazine of Literature and Art, volume IX, number 4, Philadelphia, Pa.: [John Sartain], →OCLC, page 271:

Another form of machicolation known as slot (or slit) machicolation was formed by leaving an open slot above and before a gate. Box machicolation, which Kennedy refers to as ‘true machicolation’, appears in Early Islamic fortifications. The direct source is clearly Islamic, although box machicolation is also present on pre-Islamic Syrian tower houses.

2006, Adrian J. Boas, “Elements of Fortification”, in Archaeology of the Military Orders: A Survey of the Urban Centres, Rural Settlement and Castles of the Military Orders in the Latin East, (c. 1120–1291), Abingdon, Oxon., New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, part III (The Defence of the Latin East), page 171:

(architecture) An opening between corbels that support a projecting parapet, or in the floor of a gallery or the roof of a portal, of a fortified building from which missiles can be shot or heated items dropped upon assailants attacking the base of the walls.

matakan

The main walls were carried to the top of the fourth story, where a capacious machicolation enclosed the tower, on which there is a parapet wall of great thickness, with arches: this was to protect the persons employed over the machicolations.

1816, [James Sargant Storer], “Tattershall Castle, Lincolnshire”, in The Antiquarian Itinerary, Comprising Specimens of Architecture, Monastic, Castellated, and Domestic; […], volume VI, London: Published for the proprietors, by W[illia]m Clarke, […], →OCLC:

In the Contrada della Pace there remains a very bold fragment of a castle tower. It is built of very roughly-jointed stone, and is perfectly plain till near the top, where it has a bold machicolation with tall square angle-turrets, the whole battlemented with a forked battlement.

1874, George Edmund Street, chapter V, in Brick and Marble in the Middle Ages: Notes of Tours in the North of Italy, 2nd edition, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 75:

[E]ach tower, except those at Santandria and Sargantana Island, had a machicolation over the entrance. In the larger towers this machicolation was supported by five or more corbels while the smaller towers had a smaller machicolation supported by four corbels.

1999, W[illiam] H. Clements, “The Spanish and the Minorcan Towers”, in Towers of Strength: The Story of the Martello Towers, Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Leo Cooper, Pen and Sword Books, →ISBN, page 54:

(architecture) A projecting parapet with a series of such openings.


lancet

From Middle English launcet, from Old French lancete, a diminutive of lance. By surface analysis, lance + -et.

He looked away, into the cavernous space emptying of people. Up in the galleries and behind the choir, the wide window lancets were sheets of black.

2014, Richard Powers, Orfeo, W. W. Norton & Company, page 234:

(architecture) A high narrow window, terminating in an arch acutely pointed, often double or triple, common in the first half of the 13th century.


arabesque

/ˌæɹ.əˈbɛsk/

/ˌæɹ.əˈbɛsk/

Borrowed from French arabesque, from Italian arabesco, from arabo (“Arab”). By surface analysis, Arab + -esque.

The house of Ruthven was a small but ultra-modern limestone affair, between Madison and Fifth ;[…]. As a matter of fact its narrow ornate façade presented not a single quiet space that the eyes might rest on after a tiring attempt to follow and codify the arabesques, foliations, and intricate vermiculations of what some disrespectfully dubbed as “ near-aissance.”

1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter V, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

(art, architecture, also attributively) An elaborate design of intertwined floral figures or complex geometrical patterns, mainly used in Islamic art and architecture.


entasis

en-noun

entasis (countable and uncountable, plural entases)

From Latin entasis, from Ancient Greek ἔντασις (éntasis, “tension, straining”), from ἐντείνω (enteínō, “to stretch or strain tight”).

der

It was simply the curve of the entasis, approximating infinitely near to a catenary or to a very flat hyperbola. He could not definitely say whether it was one or the other, but it was nearer to these curves than to the old-fashioned straight line.

1859, Journal of the Society of Arts, volume 7, page 484:

The entasis varies in different temples and is not found in some, as, for instance, the temple of Athena Nike and in the east portico of the Erechtheum.

1950, William Bell Dinsmoor, The Architecture of Ancient Greece: An Account of Its Historic Development, →ISBN, page 168:

Entasis occurred a thousand years earlier in the Sarsen stones at Stonehenge in southern England.[…]Entasis is also present in Egyptian obelisks and in the vertical fins of the radiator grill of the Rolls-Royce automobile.

1993, Noel W. Smith, Greek and Interbehavioral Psychology, page 125:

Counter to the increased entases of the pronaos and opisthodomos columns, the adjacent anta pillars and longitudinal cella walls received extraordinarily decreased entases that almost, or even fully, reached rectilinearity.

2005, Lothar Haselberger, “4: Bending the Truth: Curvature and Other Refinements of the Parthenon”, in Jenifer Neils, editor, The Parthenon: From Antiquity to the Present, page 132:

(architecture) A slight convex curvature introduced into the shaft of a column for aesthetic reasons, or to compensate for the illusion of concavity.


carrel

carrels (plural)
carol (alternative)
carrol (alternative)
carrell (alternative)

From Medieval Latin carula, probably from Latin corolla (“little crown”) in the sense of “ring”; or from Middle English caroll, from Medieval Latin carola, from Late Latin carola (“round dance; round object”), from Latin choraula, variant of choraulēs (“flute player”) (further etymology at carol).

Carol, or Carrel. A little pew, or closet, in a cloister, to sit and read in. They were common in greater monasteries, as Duram, Gloucester, Kirkham in Yorkshire, &c.; and had their name from the carols, or sentences inscribed on the walls about them, which often were couplets in rhyme. [Carola, Low Latin.]

1822, Edward James Willson, comp., “Carol, or Carrel”, in A Glossary of Technical Terms, Descriptive of Gothic Architecture: Collected from Official Records, Passages in the Works of Poets, Historians, &c. of a Date Contemporay with that Style: And Collated with the Elucidations and Notes of Various Commentators, Glossarists, and Modern Editors. To Accompany the Specimens of Gothic Architecture, by A[gustus] Pugin, – Architect, 3rd edition, London: Printed for J[ohn] Taylor, Architectural Library, 59, High Holborn; J. Britton, Burton Street; and A. Pugin, 34, Store Street, →OCLC, pages 2–3:

An exquisite south-east door is preserved; it is round-headed, of four orders, with a foliated label. A canopied carol or monk's seat, a Pointed crocketed arch within a square case, is seen beside it, succeeded on the south wall by an arcade of trefoiled arches with toothed mouldings.

1860, Mackenzie Walcott, “[The Abbeys of Scotland.] Melrose”, in The Minsters and Abbey Ruins of the United Kingdom: Their History, Architecture, Monuments, and Traditions; with Notices of the Larger Parish Churches and Collegiate Chapels, London: Edward Stanford, 6, Charing Cross, →OCLC, page 257:

(architecture) A small closet or enclosure built against a window on the inner side, to sit in for study.


blind spot

blind spots (plural)
blindspot (alternative)

زاوِية مَيِّتة

part of the road/railway track/tramway track that cannot be seen

(architecture) The flaw of building that cannot be seen when collapsing because poor structure, built not according specified standards, or not earthquake-proof.


frontispiece

From Middle French frontispice, from Latin frontispicium, from frōns (“forehead”) + speciō (“to look at”). Spelling altered due to folk etymology, influenced by piece.

(architecture) A façade, especially an ornamental one.

(architecture) A small ornamental pediment, especially at the top of a window or door.


glazed

a shelter at the bus stop with glazed sides and rear

a glazed garden shed

(architecture, construction) Having glass in the windows.


design pattern

software engineering
software engineering

(architecture, software engineering) A formal way of documenting a general reusable solution to a design problem in a particular field of expertise.

návrhový vzor

general solution to a variety of similar problems


tribune

From Middle English tribune, from Old French tribun, tribune, from Latin tribunus (“tribune, tribal leader”), from tribus (“tribe”).

(Christianity, architecture) The domed or vaulted apse in a cathedral housing the bishop's throne (see).

tribuna

domed or vaulted apse in a Christian church


tympanum

Borrowed from Latin tympanum (“a drum, timbrel, tambourine; the eardrum”). Doublet of timbre, timpani, timbal, and tymbal.

قَلْب القَوْصَرَة

(architecture) A vertical recessed triangular space between the sides of a pediment, typically decorated

It was a black-and-white picture of a Romanesque doorway, with flanking saints and a lively Last Judgement in the tympanum […].

2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN:

The recessed triangular space within an arch, and above a lintel or a subordinate arch, spanning the opening below the arch


timpanum

timpanums (plural)
timpana (plural)
tympanum (alternative)

(architecture) An ornamental panel in any triangular space.


concha

en-noun

concha (plural conchae or (archaic) conchæ)

conchae (plural)
conchæ (archaic plural)

Borrowed from Late Latin concha (“a mussel shell”). Doublet of conch.

(architecture) An apse, or the plain semidome of an apse.


dingbat

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Unknown, US mid 19th century. The word-puzzle sense comes from the board game Dingbats, which is based on these puzzles.

(architecture) An architectural style of apartment building, where the second storey overhangs an area for parking cars.


jamb

jambs (plural)
jambe (alternative)
jaum (alternative)

From Middle English jambe, jaumbe, from Old French jambe (“leg”), from Late Latin gamba (“hock, shank, leg, thigh”), from Ancient Greek καμπή (kampḗ, “turning post, bend or flexure”). Doublet of gam, gamb, gamba, and jambe.

der

(architecture, interior decorating, carpentry) Either of the vertical components that form the side of an opening in a wall, such as that of a door frame, window frame, or fireplace.

яңаҡ

vertical component that form the side of an opening in a wall


easement

en-noun

easement (countable and uncountable, plural easements)

From Anglo-Norman aisement, easement, eisement, esament, esement, and Middle French aisement (“comfort, convenience, ease, facility, opportunity; a benefit, relief; a right to use land, a thing, etc.; a privy”), from aisier (“to put at ease; to facilitate”) + -ment (“-ment, suffix forming nouns, usually the action or state resulting from verbs”).

der

The curved part of the rail where it joins the newel is called an easement. Often, however, the rail joins the newel without an easement.

1986, Jack P[ayne] Jones, “Designing and Building Stairs”, in Handbook of Construction Contracting, volume 1 (Plans, Specs, Building), Carlsbad, Calif.: Craftsman Book Company, →ISBN, page 240:

In preparation for laying out the easement used to join the first- and second-flight handrails, tack a piece of plywood about 5 inches wide to the bottom side of the gooseneck fitting and the handrail of the first flight. These pieces are used to rest the connecting easement against when laying out the joint.

2013, Floyd Vogt, Carpentry, 6th edition, Clifton Park, N.Y.: Delmar, Cengage Learning, →ISBN, page 932:

(architecture) An element such as a baseboard, handrail, etc., that is curved instead of abruptly changing direction.


xystus

From Ancient Greek ξυστός (xustós, “smooth; scraped”), from ξύω (xúō, “scrape”), referring to its polished floor.

bor

(historical, architecture, in Ancient Greece) A long and open portico within the gymnasium.

Xystus in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)


springing

en-noun

springing (countable and uncountable, plural springings)

The arch failed first at the crown, then at the quarterings, and finally at the springings. After demolition the girders for half the new structure were erected on bedstones already built on the abutments behind the springings of the old arch.

1941 February, “Bridge demolition by lifting”, in Railway Magazine, pages 74–75:

(countable, architecture, archaic) The spring of an arch: the lowest part of an arch on both sides.


wainscot

From Middle English waynscot, from Middle Low German wagenschot, assumed to be from wagen (“wagon”) + schot, believed to mean “partition”.

[…] this fellow will but join you together as they join wainscot; then one of you will prove a shrunk panel, and like green timber, warp, warp.

1598, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, act 3, scene 3:

Entering that gable-ended Spouter-Inn, you found yourself in a wide, low, straggling entry with old-fashioned wainscots, reminding one of the bulwarks of some condemned old craft.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 3, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 11:

(architecture) An area of wooden (especially oaken) panelling on the lower part of a room’s walls.

տախտակամած

an area of wooden panelling on the lower part of a room's walls


mastaba

mastabas (plural)
mastabah (alternative)

Borrowed from Arabic مَصْطَبَة (maṣṭaba).

bor+

The pyramids at Giza are flanked by large cemeteries containing hundreds of mastabas.

(architecture) A rectangular structure with a flat top and slightly sloping sides, built during Ancient Egyptian times above tombs that were situated on flat land. Mastabas were made of wood, mud bricks, stone, or a combination of these materials. Some are solid structures, while others can contain one or more rooms, sometimes decorated with paintings or inscriptions.

مَصْطَبَة

rectangular tomb structure with a flat top and slightly sloping sides


garret window

garret windows (plural)
garret-window (alternative)

(architecture) A skylight that lies along the slope of the roof.


thole

Anglicization of Latin tholus (“cupola, dome, rotunda”), from Ancient Greek θόλος (thólos, “dome, vault”), further etymology uncertain but possibly cognate with θᾰ́λᾰμος (thắlămos, “bedroom; inner chamber”) and/or English dale. Doublet of tholus and tholos.

der

Philostratus relates that the king's house in Babylon had a roof of brass, which shone like lightning, and that in that house there was a chamber, whose ceiling was a thole (that is, a concave hemisphere) made in imitation of some system of the heaven, and with sapphire-coloured stones, […] and from the thole were suspended four golden doves, or iynges, who were called the Tongues of the Gods.

1828, [Algernon Herbert], “Ba-bel”, in Nimrod: A Discourse on Certain Passages of History and Fable, volume I, London: Printed [by Thomas Davison] for Richard Priestley, →OCLC, page 206:

(architecture) A cupola, a dome, a rotunda; a tholus.


low-rise

low-rises (plural)
lowrise (alternative)
low rise (alternative)

(architecture): A retronym created as an antonym to high-rise.

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(architecture) A building of no more than a few stories.


Palladian

Alessandro Maganza
Andrea Palladio
Lemon Hill
Library of Congress
Palazzo Chiericati

From Italian Palladio, the surname of Andrea Palladio (1508–1580) + -an (suffix forming adjectives from nouns).

refn

From the collection of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., USA.

suffix

You ſhow us, Rome was glorious, not profuſe, / And pompous Buildings once were things of uſe. / Yet ſhall (my Lord) your juſt, your noble Rules / Fill half the land with Imitating Fools: / […] / Conſcious they act a true Palladian part, / And if they ſtarve, they ſtarve by the Rules of Art.

1735, Alexander Pope, “[Ethic Epistles, the Second Book. To Several Persons.] Epistle IV. To Richard Earl of Burlington.”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume II, London: […] J. Wright, for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, pages 40–41, lines 23–26 and 37–38:

His [William Kent's] claim to this fellowship to the Palladian school rests upon the felicitous manner in which he caught its sentiment, and the rich and varied assistance he threw into the Palladian structure.

1841 June, Frederick East, “The Palladian School of Architects”, in The Civil Engineer and Architect’s Journal, Scientific and Railway Gazette, volume IV, number 45, London: Published for the proprietor, […] H. Hooper [et al.], →OCLC, page 179, column 1:

We can quite, therefore, go to the length of thinking that perhaps the most suitable churches in which to revive the mosaic-medallion window are the Palladian churches of London. […] Surely Romanesque and Palladian are homogeneous deflections from classical art, and are not unreasonably interchangeable.

1849 October, “Chapters on Stained Glass.—No. II. [William] Warrington and [Charles] Winston.”, in The Ecclesiologist, volume VII, number XXXVIII (New Series; volume X, number LXXIV overall), London: Published under the superintendence of the Ecclesiological late Cambridge Camden Society; [printed by] Joseph Masters, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 96:

The Palladian window of the end wall is a masterpiece, however, in its admirable proportions, its relationship to the wall and the restrained decorative quality of the details. It is deserving of admiration in its own right as well as being historically interesting as the first appearance of the Palladian motive in American Georgian architecture.

1935, David M[etheny] Robb, J[ames] J. Garrison, “American Architecture from Its Origins to 1870”, in Art in the Western World, New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers publishers, →OCLC, page 206:

It [the house] was Palladian of a sort, since even I could see it was not good Palladian. Too high for its width, its portico was stunted and the wings which ran out on either side were too short and too low to give grace and style to the elevation.

1990 August, John Welcome [pseudonym; John N. H. Brennan], chapter 16, in A Painted Devil (Ulverscroft Large Print Series), London: William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., →ISBN, page 290:

And he had always thought that a Palladian villa set in a verdant English park was a very beautiful sight. He saw it as the perfect marriage of a building with nature.

2005, Barbara Taylor Bradford, Unexpected Blessings, paperback edition, London: HarperCollins Publishers, →ISBN:

(architecture) In the style of the Italian neoclassical architect Andrea Palladio.

pal·ladià

in the style of the Italian neoclassical architect Andrea Palladio


Palladian

What is quite certain that Georgian Palladianism without him [Colen Campbell] would have developed later and would have been quite different, and the legacy of the English Palladians, accepted but rarely acknowledged by their most adventurous but no more dedicated successors, would have been less rich.

1967, Howard E. Stutchbury, “Conclusion”, in The Architecture of Colen Campbell, Manchester: Manchester University Press, →OCLC, page 144:

[Peter Paul] Rubens' credo could be a rubric for [Joseph] Furttenbach's work. He is not a Palladian like [Heinrich von] Schickhardt, but takes up Italian Renaissance architecture in a both geographically and temporally broad span, attempting to make it a model for Central European requirements.

1994, Hanno-Walter Kruft, “The German-speaking Regions in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries”, in Ronald Taylor, Elsie Callander, Antony Wood, transl., A History of Architectural Theory from Vitruvius to the Present, New York, N.Y.: Princeton Architectural Press; London: Zwemmer, Philip Wilson Publishers, →ISBN, page 172:

To compound the problem, when the collaborations were over and [Nicholas] Hawksmoor came into his own, as it were, designing six churches by himself, the neo-Palladians were coming into fashion, displacing, and even dismissing, their baroque contemporaries.

2015, Cedric D. Reverand II, “Nicholas Hawksmoor: The Other English Baroque Architect”, in Cedric D. Reverand II, editor, Queen Anne and the Arts (Transits; Literature, Thought & Culture, 1650–1850), Lewisburg, Pa., Lanham, Md.: Bucknell University Press; The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 227:

(architecture) An architect who designs buildings in the Palladian style.

palladiano

Anything [i.e., any type of window] with a rounded top became known as a Palladian and was seen as an instant evocation of history, status, class, and tradition. In some cases, an oversized Palladian filled an entire facade of a house.

2001, Alastair Gordon, “Epilogue: Past Perfect”, in Weekend Utopia: Modern Living in the Hamptons, New York, N.Y.: Princeton Architectural Press, →ISBN, page 166, column 1:

From the outside, Strokestown House is a most attractive building. [...] And unlike some of the monster Palladians in this country, places like Castletown or Powerscourt, both near Dublin, Strokestown, being in the uncivilized west, is a far more modest proposition and thereby more appealing and approachable.

2002, James Charles Roy, “The Work of Angels”, in The Back of Beyond: A Search for the Soul of Ireland, Boulder, Colo., Oxford, Oxfordshire: Westview Press, →ISBN:

(architecture) A building or an architectural element (for example, a window) designed in the Palladian style.


swash

en-noun

swash (countable and uncountable, plural swashes)

Scandinavian. Compare Swedish dialect svasska, Norwegian svakka, English dialect swack (“a blow”).

The lathe was, in process of time, adapted to the production of oval figures, twisted and swash-work, as it is called, and, lastly, of rose-engine work. The swash, or raking mouldings, were employed in the balusters of staircases and other ornaments at the period of the "Renaissance" in architecture, about the end of the sixteenth century, and, therefore, the swash-lathe assumes somewhat of the character of a manufacturing machine.

1856, Lectures on the Progress of Arts and Science, page 230:

The artisans of the Middle Ages were very skilful in the use of the lathe, and turned out much beautiful screen and stall work, still to be seen in our cathedrals, as well as twisted and swash-work for the balusters of staircases and other ornamental purposes.

2019, Samuel Smiles, Industrial Biography: Iron Workers and Tool Makers:

(architecture) An oval figure, whose mouldings are oblique to the axis of the work.


mullion

Alteration of monial (“mullion”), or metathesis of Middle English moyniel, both ultimately from Old French moinel.

(architecture) A vertical bar between the panes of glass or casements of a window or the panels of a screen.

mainell

vertical bar between the casements of a window


altar screen

(architecture, Christianity) A partition, often richly decorated, separating the nave from the chancel in a church; a rood screen.


belfry

From Middle English belfrey, bellfray, belfray, from Old French belfroi, berfroi, berfrey (changed to have an ⟨l⟩ by association with bell), from Middle High German bërcvrit or bërvrit (“defensive tower”) (modern German Bergfried), possibly via Late Latin berefredus, from Proto-Germanic *bergafriþuz. Doublet of bergfried.

камбанария

tower or steeple specifically for containing bells, especially as part of a church

“You know, this house does have a belfry filled with local bats. Maybe Laszlo went up there.” “Oh, so like my darling perverted husband, to sniff out the local bordello immediately upon arrival. [chuckles] Could you take me to the belfry?”

2023 August 31, William Meny & Paul Simms, “A Weekend at Morrigan Manor” (9:33 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 5, episode 9, spoken by The Guide (Kristen Schaal):

(architecture) A tower or steeple typically containing bells, especially as part of a church.

From the belfries far and near the funereal deathbell tolled unceasingly while all around the gloomy precincts rolled the ominous warning of a hundred muffled drums punctuated by the hollow booming of pieces of ordnance.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[The Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

(architecture) A part of a large tower or steeple, specifically for containing bells.


cuneus

Borrowed from Latin cuneus. Doublet of coign and coin.

(architecture) One of a set of wedge-shaped divisions separated by stairways, found in the Ancient Roman theatre and in mediaeval architecture.


French window

French windows (plural)
french window (alternative)

(architecture) An outside door with glass panes, serving as a window and a door


supertall

Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat

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(architecture) A building between 300m and 600m tall, approximately 1000ft to 2000ft tall. A tall building taller than a plain tall but shorter than a megatall.


cella

Learned borrowing from Latin cella. Doublet of cell and hall.

Room by room, Sarrasine advances to the cella of the hermaphrodite god, veiled like Spenser's Venus.

(architecture) The central, enclosed part of an ancient temple, as distinguished from the open porticos.


vaulted

en-adj

vaulted (comparative more vaulted, superlative most vaulted)

more vaulted (comparative)
most vaulted (superlative)

It was a large vaulted apartment, and had been once a chapel: but it was now half library, half laboratory.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Age and Youth”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 10:

(architecture) Of a ceiling supported by arches, introduced in the Gothic style.


loggia

en-noun

loggia (plural loggias or logge or loggie)

loggias (plural)
logge (plural)
loggie (plural)

Borrowed from Italian loggia, from Old French loge, from Medieval Latin laubĭa, from Frankish *laubijā. Doublet of lobby and lodge.

(architecture) A roofed, open gallery, usually on an upper level.


catenary bridge

catenary bridge (plural catenary bridges)

(architecture) a bridge in which the horizontal deck is suspended from a reverse catenary to counteract bending


corb

(architecture) An ornament in a building; a corbel.


broached spire

(architecture) An octagonal spire rising from a square tower without a parapet, with pyramidal forms at the angles.


fleuron

From Old French floron (“flower”), spelling later changed to match modern French fleuron.

(architecture) The small decorative flower at the centre of each side of a Corinthian abacus; a flos.


Bethlehem

Inherited from Middle English Bethleem, from Old French Bethleem, from Latin Bēthlehēmum, from Ancient Greek Βηθλεέμ (Bēthleém), from Hebrew בֵּית לֶחֶם (bēṯ lɛ́ḥɛm, literally “house of bread”). Doublet of bedlam and Belém.

der

[…] to the Hebrew and Arabic word “korban” as now used in the Abyssinian Church to denote the sacramental bread specially prepared in the “Bethlehem,” or “House of Bread.”

1869, John Baron, Anglosaxon witness on four alleged requisites for holy communion:

A small building, attached to Ethiopic churches, usually at the eastern end of the sacrarium, in which the deacon prepares and bakes the bread for use in the eucharist. This building is called the Bethlehem, or “house of bread.”

1882, William Audsley, George Ashdown Audsley, Popular Dictionary of Architecture and the Allied Arts, page 200:

The deacon rings a bell when bread is brought from the bethlehem to the maqdas and at other liturgical times

2006, Geoffrey Wainwright, Robert Earl Cushman, Karen B. Westerfield Tucker, The Oxford History of Christian Worship, page 143:

The priests and deacons assigned to the service wash their feet and hands, usually near the 'Bethlehem'.

2014, Bryan D. Spinks, Do this in Remembrance of Me, page 174:

(architecture) In the Ethiopic church, a small building attached to a church edifice, in which the bread for the Eucharist is made.


bullseye

bullseyes (plural)
bull's-eye (alternative)
bull's eye (alternative)

→ German: Bullauge (calque)

→ Esperanto: bovokulo (calque)

From bull's + eye. May have come from the practice of English archers shooting an arrow through the eye socket of a bull's skull as a test of skill. The connection to philately comes from the shape of the key plate or vignette.


spere

(architecture) The fixed structure between the great hall and the screens passage in an English medieval timber house.


coffered

coffered ceiling

[…] stirred by the air / That freshened from the window, these ascended / In fattening the prolonged candle-flames, / Flung their smoke into the laquearia, / Stirring the pattern on the coffered ceiling.

1922 October, T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, “Part II. A Game of Chess.”, in The Waste Land, 1st book edition, New York, N.Y.: Boni and Liveright, published December 1922, →OCLC, page 18:


fust

Borrowed from Old French fust (“wood; bole, tree trunk”) (modern French fût), from Latin fūstis (“knobbed stick, cudgel, club”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- (“to hit”) or *gʷʰen- (“to strike; to kill, slay”).

Cherici, Giuseppe, & Sons, Volterra. A large alabaster vase, after the Etrurian style; executed in the exhibitors' manufactory in Volterra, […] The vase is placed on the fust of a column of the Tuscan order.

1851, “Tuscany”, in Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851: Official Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue. By Authority of the Royal Commission. In Three Volumes, volume III (Foreign States), London: Spicer Brothers, wholesale stationers; W[illiam] Clowes and Sons, printers; contractors to the Royal Commission, 29 New Bridge Street, Blackfriars, and at the Exhibition building, →OCLC, item 109, page 1298, column 2:

Façade of the Benedictines' convent and church wonderfully crowded with ornaments, as likewise the altars generally adorned with twisted pillars flourished all over, and loaden with little puttini, birds, and the like in clusters on the chapiters and between the wreaths along the fusts of the columns.

1871, George Berkeley, Alexander Campbell Fraser, “Journal of a Tour in Italy in 1717, 1718”, in Life and Letters of George Berkeley, D.D. formerly Bishop of Cloyne; and an Account of His Philosophy. With Many Writings of Bishop Berkeley hitherto Unpublished: Metaphysical, Descriptive, Theological by Alexander Campbell Fraser, M.A. Professor of Logic and Metaphysics in the University of Edinburgh (The Works of George Berkeley, D.D.; IV), volume IV, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 550:

(architecture) The shaft (main body) of a column.


flying buttress

en-noun

flying buttress (plural flying buttresses)

(architecture) A buttress that stands apart from the structure that it supports, and is connected to it by an arch (flyer).


buttress

buttresses (plural)
buttrice (alternative)

From Old French ars bouterez (noun, literally “supporting arcs”), from bouterez (adj), oblique plural of bouteret (rare in the singular), from Frankish *bôtan, from Proto-Germanic *bautaną (“to push”). Ultimately cognate with beat.

der

It was decided, therefore, to build eight concrete buttresses from the new strengthening work to safeguard the general stability of the wall along the length where the greatest movement had taken place.

1954 June, “Strengthening of River Calder Retaining Wall, N.E.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 429:

Coordinate term: pilaster

(architecture) A brick, concrete or stone structure built against another structure to support it.

контрафорс

brick or stone structure built against another structure to support it


marquise

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The house was a big elaborate limestone affair, evidently new. Winter sunshine sparkled on lace-hung casement, on glass marquise, and the burnished bronze foliations of grille and door.

1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

(architecture) A canopy, usually of glass, set as a shelter over a door opening onto a terrace or pavement.


MUGA

(architecture) Acronym of multiuse games area.


lambrequin

lambrequins (plural)
lambrekin (alternative)

(architecture) A decorative architectural element placed along the eaves of a roof, the edges of an overhang, etc.


exonarthex

en-noun

exonarthex (plural exonarthexes or exonarthices)

exonarthexes (plural)
exonarthices (plural)

The exonarthex is of inferior workmanship, and has been thought by some of later date than the rest of the church; but there seems no ground for this belief.

1850, John Mason Neale, A History of the Holy Eastern Church: The Patriarchate of Alexandria:

(architecture, Christianity) The space anterior to the narthex of a church, sometimes roofed-over as with a porch, but more often an enclosed courtyard; in antiquity, the courtyard where catechumens were permitted to be close to the Eucharist, but forbidden to see it celebrated.


paternoster

/ˈpɑtəɹˌnɔstɚ/

From Middle English paternoster, pater noster, from Old English Paternoster, from Latin Pater noster (“our father”) (the first two words of the Oratio Dominica (“the Lord's prayer”)), from pater (“father”) + noster (“our”). The lift and the fishing equipment are named from their resemblance to a rosary.

(architecture, millwork) A bead-like ornament in mouldings.


Monterey

/ˌmɒntəˈɹeɪ/

Borrowed from Spanish Monterrey, from Galician Monterrei, from monte (“mountain”) + rei (“king”).

(architecture) Of a style reminiscent of the architecture of Alta California.


volute

From French volute, from Italian voluta, from Latin volūta, from the feminine of volūtus, perfect passive participle of volvō. Doublet of vault.

This example is much richer, yet no less elegant, than the other; the volute, instead of a single spiral, is formed by three; the sculptured echinus beneath is surmounted by a guilloched moulding, and separated from the shaft by a neck […]

1856, Edward Shaw, The Modern Architect, Or, Every Carpenter His Own Master:

(architecture) The characteristic spiral curve on an Ionic capital, widely copied in other styles and in neoclassical architecture.


corbel

From Middle English corbel, from Old French corbel, from Late Latin corbellus, corvellus, diminutive of Latin corvus (“raven”).

Coordinate term: console

The booking hall is lofty and of peculiar design, the roof being carried on timbered beams set in pairs rising from carved corbels.

1946 September and October, D. J. Rowett, “Stamford L.N.E.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 283:

(architecture) A structural member jutting out of a wall to carry a superincumbent weight.

конзола

architecture: a structural member of stone, wood or metal jutting out of a wall to carry a superincumbent weight


haunch

haunches (plural)
haunce (alternative)
haunse (alternative)
hanch (alternative)
hance (alternative)
hanse (alternative)

From Middle English haunche, hanche, from Old French hanche, hance, anche (compare French hanche, Italian anca), from a Germanic source, probably Frankish *ankijā, from Proto-Germanic *ankijǭ (“joint; ankle”), from Proto-Indo-European *ang- (“joint; lith”). Cognate with Old High German ancha, encha, einka (“the leg; joint, bend”) (compare Old High German anchila, enchila (“ankle”), German Hanke (“haunch”), West Frisian hancke (“haunch”). More at ankle.

der

(architecture) A squat vertical support structure.


haunch

en-verb

haunch (third-person singular simple present haunches, present participle haunching, simple past and past participle haunched)

haunches (present singular third-person)
haunching (participle present)
haunched (participle past)
haunched (past)
haunce (alternative)
haunse (alternative)
hanch (alternative)
hance (alternative)
hanse (alternative)

(transitive, architecture) To provide with a haunch or supporting structure.


gadroon

From French godron, from Middle French goderon, from a form of godet (“vase with wavy edges”) + -(e)ron, from Dutch kodde (“piece of cylindrical wood”). Also probably related to goder (“to pucker”).


ashlar

en-noun

ashlar (countable and uncountable, plural ashlars)

From Middle English assheler, acheler, etc., from forms of Old French esselier (“wooden support, traverse beam”), from Medieval Latin ascelāris and assellāris (equivalent to a diminutive of early forms of ais (“plank”)), variant of *axillāris (attested only after the Renaissance), from Latin axilla (“little plank”) + -āris (“-ary: forming adjectives”), from axis (“axle, plank”) + -illa (“-ella: forming diminutives”).

der

The four main spans across the waterway are carried on ashlar piers founded on Memel timber piles.

1949 November and December, “Notes and News: The High Level Bridge, Newcastle”, in Railway Magazine, page 407:

Even as I babbled, Jock's massy frame filled the doorway, his ill-hewn ashlar head weaving from side to side, eyes blinking at the light.

1973, Kyril Bonfiglioli, Don't Point That Thing at Me, Penguin, published 2001, page 108:

By the Augustan period, however, the old ashlar circuit with its earthen agger was beginning to be dismantled in some places.

2012, Seth G. Bernard, “Continuing the Deabte on Rome's Earliest Circuit Walls”, in Papers of the British School at Rome, number 80, page 2:

The building, in a plain Tudor Gothic style, has a central door in chamfered ashlar surround.

2024 March 6, Dr Joseph Brennan, “England's booking offices of distinction”, in RAIL, number 1004, page 59:

(architecture) Masonry employing flat and well-squared stone or brick, creating an appearance similar to wooden flooring.

carreuada

well-finished masonry creating an effect similar to well-done wooden flooring

And from the choir itself, where the big hoist was working, came the shouts of the men sweating at the great wheel that swung the cut stones skyward, and the men high overhead on the hurdle-walks, waiting to receive the swinging ashlars and guide them into place.

1970, Rosemary Sutcliff, The Witch`s Brat, Red Fox, published 1990, page 83:

(architecture) Stone hewn and finished to create such masonry, either completely or as a facade over an earthen or rubble core.


pediment

From the earlier form peremint, perhaps a dialectal alteration of pyramid, under the influence of -ment.

Passing the Congregation Shearith Israel on Central Park West (a white whale of a building with a triangular pediment supported by four count ’em four massive Corinthian columns), Professor Solanka scurrying through the downpour remembered the newly bat-mitzvahed thirteen-year-old girl he’d glimpsed through the side door, […]

2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 5:

(architecture) A classical architectural element consisting of a triangular section or gable found above the horizontal superstructure (entablature) which lies immediately upon the columns; fronton.


filleting

(architecture) The protecting of a joint, as between roof and parapet wall, with mortar or cement, where flashing is employed in better work.


galilee

From late Middle English galilie, from Old French galilee, from Medieval Latin galilaea, from Latin Galilaea (“Galilee”). Possibly the allusion is to Galilee being an outlying region of Biblical Palestine.

(architecture) A narthex, particularly in the United Kingdom and the Church of England; a vestibule, a fully-enclosed yet porch-like structure, leading to the main body of an English ecclesiastical building.


gingerbread

en-noun

gingerbread (countable and uncountable, plural gingerbreads)

gingerbreads (plural)
gingebred (alternative)

/ˈd͡ʒɪn.(d͡)ʒəˌbɹɛd/

/ˈd͡ʒɪn.d͡ʒɚˌbɹɛd/

From Middle English gyngebred, gyngebrede, from Old French gingembras, gingimbrat (“preserved ginger”), from Medieval Latin *gingimbrātus (“gingered”, presumably referring to ginger that perhaps had a pharmaceutical use for some medicinal preparation), with intrusive m added to gingiber, from Latin zingiber (“ginger”), of earlier Sanskrit origin, through Ancient Greek ζιγγίβερις (zingíberis). The third syllable was early confounded with bread, and the insertion of an r in the second syllable completed the semblance of a compound word: ginger + bread.

der

For a time modern architects took a starkly functional approach to the design of houses, emphasizing clean, uncluttered lines and rejecting most forms of wall ornamentation as dust-catching gingerbread.

1980, Robert M. Jones, editor, Walls and Ceilings, Time-Life Books, →ISBN, page 37:

(architecture) A flamboyant Victorian-era architectural style.


cornice

From Middle French corniche or Italian cornice, from Latin cornīx (“crow”).

(architecture) A horizontal architectural element of a building, projecting forward from the main walls, originally used as a means of directing rainwater away from the building's walls.


foursquare

en-noun

foursquare (countable and uncountable, plural foursquares)

From Middle English foure square; equivalent to four + square.

(countable, architecture, US) A boxy style of domestic architecture with four rooms to a floor, one of which is usually a stair hall.


tailing

[…]iron Bar forming a Tailing for the stones which lie in the doorways

1813, Benjamin Dean Wyatt, Observations on the Design for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane:

(architecture) The part of a projecting stone or brick inserted in a wall.