finial
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English[edit]
finial of the dome of the Taj Mahal
Etymology[edit]
Late Middle English finial < Old French fin or Latin fīnis (“end”) + -ial
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
finial (plural finials)
- The knot or bunch of foliage, or foliated ornament, that forms the upper extremity of a pinnacle in Gothic architecture.
- Coordinate term: fleuron
- 1924, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 24, [1]
- Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges; hence the conclusion of such a narration is apt to be less finished than an architectural finial.
- 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty, Bloomsbury, 2005, Chapter 3,
- The steep slate roofs were topped with bronze finials so tall and fanciful they looked like drops of liquid sliding down a thread.
- Any decorative fitting at the peak of a gable, or on the top of a flagpole, fence post or staircase newel post.
Quotations[edit]
- 1988 : It was a narrow, gravelled island we had to lie on, guarded by glazed brick chimneys and, running along the sides, a prickly little gothic fence of iron finials and terracotta quatrefoils. - Alan Hollinghurst, The Swimming Pool Library, (Penguin Books, paperback edition, 142)
Translations[edit]
foliated ornament
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decorative fitting
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Further reading[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English words suffixed with -ial
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Architecture