Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. One of the upright, usually rounded or vase-shaped supports of a balustrade.
- n. An upright support, such as a furniture leg, having a similar shape.
- n. One of the supporting posts of a handrail.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In architecture and building, a small upright member made in a great variety of forms, but typically strongly swelled outward at some point between the base and the top or capital, and commonly vase- or urn-shaped, used in series to support the rail of a railing or balustrade. The baluster, as distinguished from a small column serving the same purpose, originated in the architecture of the Renaissance. Now often called
banister . - n. In architecture, the lateral part of the volute of the Ionic capital. Also bolster.
Wiktionary
- n. architecture A short column used in a group to support a rail, as commonly found on the side of a stairway; a banister.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Arch.) A small column or pilaster, used as a support to the rail of an open parapet, to guard the side of a staircase, or the front of a gallery. See balustrade.
WordNet 3.0
- n. one of a number of closely spaced supports for a railing
Etymologies
- French balustre, from Italian balaustro 'pillar', from balausta 'wild pomegranate flower', so named because of resemblance to the swelling form of the half-open flower, from Ancient Greek βαλαύστιον (balaustion), from Semitic (compare Aramaic balatz 'wild pomegranate flower'). (Wiktionary)
- French balustre, from Italian balaustro, from balaustra, pomegranate flower (from a resemblance to the post), from Latin balaustium, from Greek balaustion. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“There was also an little piece of home in one of the display cases: An original baluster from the Louis Sullivan designed Carson Pirie Scott building in Chicago.”
“August 15th, 2007 at 1: 27 am dangerous place, if the baluster is not high enough! mx2 Says:”
“England had what was known as a baluster stem and a seal head; the assay mark was in the inner part of the bowl.”
“A staircase with a massive oak baluster winds up toward the second floor.”
“One broken baluster is placed on the pediment like a fractured leg.”
“We waited to collect money to rebuild the front porch right; solid cedar columns, tongue & groove panelled ceiling, a hint of our personality in the rail baluster pattern.”
“Project involves converting unfinished attic space to a 15-by-15-foot bedroom and bathroom with shower; installing four new windows, shed dormer and closet space under eaves; adding insulation, carpeting, rail and baluster to stairs; extending ventilation system; and finishing walls and ceilings.”
“Again, the baluster survives: the hollow—concealed behind a removable sliver of wood—is very small.”
“She had remained upstairs, holding her child by the hand, and leaning over the baluster; her mind in great perplexity and her eyes and ears on the alert.”
“Up the lawns, through the garden doors, skidding on the polished wood, into the hall where he paused, panting, his hand upon the swirling knob of the baluster.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘baluster’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Steroids
Nouns that end in "ster". The -er suffix (as in blaster) doesn't count.
hamster, filibuster, aster, master, mister, baluster, banister, barrister, monster, plaster, semester, bister and 56 more...
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Agatha Christie
Charming and intriguing words one finds in AG's murder mysteries. Also see Murdered, you say?
ambassadress, aperitif, baluster, cause célèbre, crime passionnel, embankment, embonpoint, galantine, mauvais sujet, mephistophelean, mountebank, purloin and 67 more...
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Pale Fire
Words gathered while reading Pale Fire.
larches, torquate, stillicide, vermiculate, preterist, theolatry, iridule, vulgarian, cloutish, lemniscate, torsion, trillium and 176 more...
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Castles and Keeps
Shamelessly ripped off from this site and others (to be named hereinafter). (Fair warning: for my own edification, I may add definitions/comments from the site, but you might want to just go there ...
abutment, adulterine, allure, angle-spur, apse, arbalest, arbalestier, arbalist, arcade, arch, armoury, arrow slit and 410 more...
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lanklenmot's Words
ineluctable, prelapsarian, bien pensant, prospero, preternatural, gratifying, iconoclast, cineast, persnickety, tumescent, galvanize, pap and 887 more...
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As soon as I finish this chapter
x
procrastination, drily, rheumatism, rheum, suint, tiresome, wearisome, tiring, suboptimal, subpar, subprime, grange and 190 more...
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The Confidence Man
Words to remember from Melville's "The Confidence Man"
chevalier, hawk, unalloyed, ex-officio, scruple, pertinacity, epithet, gilt, bedizen, embrasure, escritoire, squaw and 278 more...
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looked up
Words I've come across while reading and looked up in the dictionary.
deesis, pendentive, revetment, aedicule, stemma, patera, ephod, entrepot, corbel, exedra, volute, archivolt and 1408 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (B)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
balcony, bailey, baguette, bairn, balalaika, baldric, balefire, baby's breath, ballet, balm of gilead, balsam, baluster and 188 more...
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conglomeration
wherewithal, wan, zoonotic, zoonosis, nebulous, nefarious, nascent, quiescent, quell, undercroft, unwitting, unutterable and 658 more...
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miscellanea
antimacassar, snootful, sessile, glagolitic, marrowsky, farrago, keel, calumny, rheum, talisman, tally, awry and 508 more...
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You May Tell Yourself, "This Is Not M...
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cornice, balustrade, dado, bargeboard, buttress, clerestory, crenellation, cupola, corbel, dentil, vergeboard, quatrefoil and 101 more...
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Architecture & Fortification
minaret, buttress, parapet, palisade, escarpment, portico, gambrel, bell cot, sally port, baluster, obelisk, colonnade
Tweets
Looking for tweets for baluster.
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