Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The horizontal upper section of a classical building, resting on the columns and consisting of the architrave, frieze, and cornice.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In architecture, that part of a lintel construction, or a structure consisting of horizontal members supported by columns or vertical members, which rests upon the columns and extends upward to the roof, or to the tympana of the pediments if these features are present.
  • noun In machinery, a strong iron frame supporting a paddle-shaft.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Arch.) The superstructure which lies horizontally upon the columns. See Illust. of column, cornice.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun architecture All that part of a classical temple above the capitals of the columns; includes the architrave, frieze, and cornice but not the roof

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (architecture) the structure consisting of the part of a classical temple above the columns between a capital and the roof

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Obsolete French, from Italian intavolatura, from intavolare, to put on a table : in-, in, on (from Latin; see en–) + tavola, table (from Latin tabula, board).]

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Examples

  • On the entablature is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, who inaugurated Sir Richard Gresham's structure -- the centre figure of a number of others emblematic of the all-embracing commerce of this country, and surmounted by the words: 'The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.'

    Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 420 Volume 17, New Series, January 17, 1852 Various 1836

  • Pl. LXVI -- the lower drawing on the right hand side -- the sarcophagus is shown between the columns, and above the entablature is a plinth on which the horse stands.

    The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci — Volume 2 1452-1519 Leonardo da Vinci 1485

  • Pl. LXVI -- the lower drawing on the right hand side -- the sarcophagus is shown between the columns, and above the entablature is a plinth on which the horse stands.

    The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci — Complete 1452-1519 Leonardo da Vinci 1485

  • The medallion of Pierre Corneille is sculptured on the entablature which is supported by these columns, and on each side of the medallion, we perceive Melpomene with a dagger, and Thalia with a mask.

    Rouen, It's History and Monuments A Guide to Strangers Th��odore Licquet 1809

  • The result, now standing in the St. Mary's Chapel Field, is a tall chapel of handmade red brick, with a cream-colored Baroque "Tuscan" facade decorated with classical features, including pilasters, entablature and a round central window.

    Theorized Reconstruction of a 17th Century Jesuit Church in America 2009

  • When Pelli started 40 years ago, the Blue Building was to be a standalone -- a huge entablature unto itself.

    J. Michael Welton: Cesar Pelli's California Cathedrals J. Michael Welton 2011

  • The south facade is a curiously flat and blocky affair, only partly leavened by the awkward, two-bay, single-column upper arcade, the unsatisfactorily cinched lower entablature, the four eccentric little ground-floor windows, and the raised platform supporting it all.

    Archive 2009-03-01 2009

  • Its columns are tall and slender, its capitals have bountiful acanthus leaves with big scrolls and its entablature sports an ostentatiously sculpted frieze and cornice.

    Renaissance architecture: how to identify the Roman orders 2011

  • Essentially, the orders determine the shape, proportion and decoration of the basic architectural elements: the vertical, supporting column (with its base, shaft and capital) and the horizontal, supported entablature (divided into three registers, from bottom to top: the architrave, frieze and cornice).

    Renaissance architecture: how to identify the Roman orders 2011

  • Here Mr. Stroik has successfully orchestrated a hierarchy of scales in form and space that includes the majestic crossing and apse; the great piers supporting the dome; the pilasters carrying a massive, uninterrupted entablature; the gorgeous baldachin looming over the main altar — and so on down the line.

    A Return to Grace Catesby Leigh 2010

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