plinth

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From French plinthe, from Latin plinthus, from Ancient Greek πλίνθος (plínthos, brick).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /plɪnθ/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪnθ
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Noun[edit]

A plinth

plinth (plural plinths)

  1. A block or slab upon which a column, pedestal, statue or other structure is based.
    The queen placed the vase on the plinth so the cupbearer could fill it with flowers.
    • 1948 July and August, “The Why and The Wherefore: Boulders at St Anne's Park Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 280:
      There appears to be no definite information about the origin of the two large boulders, mounted on plinths, on the platforms of St. Anne's Park Station, Bristol.
    • 1951 September, “Reconstruction of Sloane Square Station, London”, in Railway Magazine, page 634:
      The station building forms a street-level portal and ticket hall, connected by staircases and escalators to the sub-surface platforms. The whole structure is designed as a plinth for a future block of buildings above.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
      He turned back to the scene before him and the enormous new block of council dwellings. The design was some way after Corbusier but the block was built up on plinths and resembled an Atlantic liner swimming diagonally across the site.
  2. The bottom course of stones or bricks supporting a wall.
  3. A base or pedestal beneath a cabinet.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]