cornice
UK /ˈkɔːnɪs/ · US /ˈkoɹnɪs/ noun, verb
Forms cornices cornicing corniced
- noun (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.
- noun (architecture) A decorative element applied at the topmost part of the wall of a room, as with a crown molding.
- noun (furniture) A decorative element at the topmost portion of certain pieces of furniture, as with a highboy.
- noun (geography, mountaineering) An overhanging edge of snow on a ridge or the crest of a mountain and along the sides of gullies.
- verb (transitive) To furnish or decorate with a cornice.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle French corniche or Italian cornice, possibly from either (1) Latin cornīx (“crow”) or (2) Latin coronis (“curved line, flourish in writing”), from Ancient Greek κορωνίς (korōnís). See also corniche.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any horizontal, molded or otherwise decorated projection which crowns or finishes the part to which it is affixed; as, the cornice of an order, pedestal, door, window, or house. Gwilt. Cornice ring, the ring on a cannon next behind the muzzle ring.
Etymology [F. corniche, It. cornice, LL. coronix, cornix, fr. L. coronis a curved line, a flourish with the pen at the end of a book or chapter, Gr. corona crown. sEE Crown, and cf. Coronis.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “cornice”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details