Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A horizontal molded projection that crowns or completes a building or wall.
- n. The uppermost part of an entablature.
- n. The molding at the top of the walls of a room, between the walls and ceiling.
- n. An ornamental horizontal molding or frame used to conceal rods, picture hooks, or other devices.
- v. To supply, decorate, or finish with or as if with a cornice.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In architecture, any molded projection which crowns or finishes the part to which it is affixed; specifically, the third or uppermost division of an entablature, resting on the frieze. (See column.) When the crowning course of a wall is plain, it is usually called a coping.
- n. An ornamental molding, usually of plaster, running round the walls of a room just below the ceiling.
- n. In upholstery, an ornamental band or molding which covers and conceals the rod or hooks from which curtains, etc., are hung.
- n. A molding or strip of wood, plain or gilded, fastened to the walls of a room, at the proper height from the floor, to serve as a support for picture-hooks; a picture-cornice.
- To furnish or finish with a cornice.
Wiktionary
- n. 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. See also: eaves, fascia.
- n. A decorative element applied at the topmost part of the wall of a room, as with a crown moulding.
- n. A decorative element at the topmost portion of certain pieces of furniture, as with a highboy.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Arch.) Any horizontal, molded or otherwise decorated projection which crowns or finishes the part to which it is affixed.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a decorative framework to conceal curtain fixtures at the top of a window casing
- n. a molding at the corner between the ceiling and the top of a wall
- v. furnish with a cornice
- n. the topmost projecting part of an entablature
Etymologies
- Perhaps from Latin cornix, 'crow', influenced by Ancient Greek κορωνίς (koronis, "crown"). (Wiktionary)
- Obsolete French, from Italian, possibly from Latin cornīx, cornīc-, crow, from its resemblance to a crow's beak (influenced by Greek korōnis, curved line, flourish). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Running under the cornice was a faint carved inscription.”
“That clumsy structure called the cornice, for putting up curtains on, has happily given place to the more light and graceful curtain pole.”
The Ladies Book of Useful Information Compiled from many sources
“Above the cornice is a blocking course, surmounted by an attic, with an appropriate cornice and sub-blocking, to add to the height of the building.”
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 13, No. 354, January 31, 1829
“Underneath the cornice was a crimson velvet vallance, separated into divisions, the lower portion of each division being rounded with gold, while its centre was decorated with gold, embroidered, and raised ornaments illustrative of the military orders, and of the emblems of the United Kingdom, the Rose, the”
“A cornice is the uppermost division of the entablature, the representative of the roof, of an order, consisting of projecting mouldings and blocks, usually divisible into bed-moulding, corona, and gutter.”
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 4: Clandestinity-Diocesan Chancery
“Over the middle of the cornice is a seated deity with hands extended, the right over the Eye of Horus, and the left over a pool.”
“The upper series above the cornice was the more important of the two, on account of the chronological inscriptions which accompanied and explained each medallion.”
“Above the cornice is another monolith, the lower part squared and the upper shaped into a pyramid.”
“The ladder just reached the edge of the cornice, that is to say, the sill of the window; so that, by standing upon the last round but one of the ladder, a man of about the middle height, as the king was, for instance, could easily talk with those who might be in the room.”
“The ladder just reached the edge of the cornice, that is to say, the sill of the window; so that, by standing upon the last round but one of the ladder, a man of about the middle height, as the king was, for instance, could easily hold a communication with those who might be in the room.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cornice’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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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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2nd part
prelude, ample, escalate, prototype, accession, acquisition, archives, zealot, indict, verdict, intimidating, timid and 454 more...
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phrontistery - c
from phrontistery.info
czardas, cytometer, cytology, cytheromania, cystoscope, cystolith, cyrenaic, cypseline, cyprinoid, cyphonism, cynophobia, cytogenesis and 1298 more...
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EN-HU - important words for a HU inte...
Words only (I left out the expressions) from Geza Kerenyi's EN-HU interpreters' dictionary. Most of them pose some difficulty when interpreted between HU and EN in either or both directions.
abalone, abrasive, abstractionist, abstruse, abysmal, academia, accessibility, accessible, acclimate, accolade, accompanist, achiever and 1469 more...
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Architectual terms
Any words to do with architecture or building materials, to help me write a fictional city for a novel.
welkin, cornice, gargoyle, quatrefoil, frieze, bargeboard, corbel, cupola, belvedere, steeple, widow's walk, minaret and 13 more...
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Columniation
A list of terms pertaining to columns employed in architecture.
hypostyle, peristyle, columniation, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, base, shaft, capital, entablature, architrave, frieze and 78 more...
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OvoloOvoloOvoloOvoloOvoloOvolo
Decorative trims and moldings and their elements, from room-scale to whole-building-scale, including, of course, ovolo.
egg and dart, echinus, drip cap, fluting fillet, rosette, scotia, screen molding, picture rail, chair rail, quarter-round, crown molding, bandelet and 56 more...
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A Time of Gifts
lambent, gonfalon, ait, eyrie, haberdashery, belfry, capstan, spinney, barbican, hobnail, wharf, waterlogged and 64 more...
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See, it's hard and soft!
Words that contain both a "hard C" and a "soft C".
civic, accelerate, accent, vaccine, flaccid, accident, carapace, commonplace, crawlspace, cyberspace, accomplice, cockatrice and 14 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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Carlos' Words
monstropolous, absquatulate
pinguid, triffid, calque, refulgent, monstropolous, Seanchaí, clinquant, Chryselephantine ..., peavey, milium, swage, Burtillon, Burtil... and 215 more...
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imogen's Words
coagitate, cloche, harum-scarum, foxglove, cryptolect, cant, roux, angora, duff, ulysse, schadenfreude, pepperpot and 315 more...
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wunderkammer's Words
smarmy, bubkes, elucidate, togs, aeolian, carp, kibosh, bosky, ramshackle, mange, harpy, effervesce and 163 more...
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Words for ice and snow
Environmental Ice and Snow
(excluding all the food ice)ice, icicle, frazil, frasil, sleet, slush, snow, flurry, snowfall, freeze, flash-freeze, quick-freeze and 618 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...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for cornice.
alexz in ice and snow, it's the snow at the top of a mountain which is wind and turbulence sculpted into an overhang
Feb 11, 2013
madmouth We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground--
The roof was scarcely visible--
The cornice--but a mound
-Emily Dickinson, from 27 ('Because I could not stop for Death') Jul 17, 2009