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  1. finial love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Architecture A sculptured ornament, often in the shape of a leaf or flower, at the top of a gable, pinnacle, or similar structure.
  2. n. An ornamental terminating part, as on a post or piece of furniture.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. In architecture, the ornamental termination or apex of a pinnacle, canopy, gable, or the like, consisting usually of a knob or composition of foliage. By older writers the word is used to denote not only the termination, but the whole pyramidal mass.
  2. n. In decorative art, by extension from architecture, the ornamental termination, usually a knob, cluster of leaves, or the like, of any upward-pointing part.

Wiktionary

  1. n. The knot or bunch of foliage, or foliated ornament, that forms the upper extremity of a pinnacle in Gothic architecture.
  2. n. Any decorative fitting at the peak of a gable, or on the top of a flagpole, fence post or staircase newel post.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Arch.) The knot or bunch of foliage, or foliated ornament, that forms the upper extremity of a pinnacle in Gothic architecture; sometimes, the pinnacle itself.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. an ornament at the top of a spire or gable; usually a foliated fleur-de-lis

Etymologies

  1. Middle English, last, finial, variant of final; see final. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “Twentieth-century blue-blood decorator Sister Parish, America's version of Ms. Castaing, was asked once why she had put a worthless giltwood curtain finial atop a lovely antique clock in her entrance hall.”

    The Wall Street Journal: The Decorator's Decorator

  • “These desks evidently stood in the old library against the shafts of the roof, for one of the ends has been hollowed out in each to receive the shaft; and the finial, which is left plain on that side, is bent over slightly, to admit it under the brace (fig. 39).”

    The Care of Books

  • “On a crystal goddess's head, long described as a finial for a staff, she found a loop that suggests that the carving was actually a pendant.”

    NYT > Home Page

  • “The head stonemason for the cathedral, Joseph Alonso, said what lies beneath the top one-third of the pinnacle, known as the finial, is where the stabilization process really begins.”

    CNN.com

  • “For fastening a turned ornament (or "finial") to the end of a cornice pole a double pointed screw (known in the trade as a "dowel screw") is used, one half of which is screwed into each part of the pieces to be joined.”

    Woodwork Joints How they are Set Out, How Made and Where Used.

  • “Much like a creme brulee, the finial layer of yogurt is topped of with a generous coating of sugar that is caramelized using a kitchen torch.”

    Bruléed Yogurt Parfait | Baking Bites

  • “An old woman who lives in Danoke Village near the pagoda said, What happened was around 2pm, the hti-taw (ornamental finial of the pagoda) collapsed first, yet there was no strong wind blowing.”

    Global Voices in English » Myanmar: Collapse of an Ancient Pagoda

  • “In case you do not know a finial is: a decorative, terminal part at the tip of a spire, gable, lamp shade support, etc., or projecting upward from the top of a cabinet, breakfront, etc. Thanks, shoe”

    Finial

  • “So instead I walk to the top of the stairs and put my hand on the top of the banister there, where the finial is formed into a pineapple shape.”

    Simon & Schuster: The Kitchen Daughter

  • “Calista Flockhart also did a phenomenal job throughout this episode; from the dress shopping with Rebecca in the beginning of the episode to the finial scene at the end when she hug Sarah and you can tell she is hang on for dare life.”

    'Brothers & Sisters' recap: Life goes on | EW.com

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synonyms (3)

Words with the same meaning

  1. ornament
  1. terminal
  1. crop

hypernyms (3)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. decoration
  1. ornament
  1. ornamentation

same context (11)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. manzardo
  2. netscape
  1. bistre
  2. NASCAR
  1. friendster
  2. side-pee
  1. pensi
  2. $helptext
  1. holdup
  2. century
  1. sloka

reverse dictionary (12)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. poppy-head
  2. neck-molding
  1. hip knob
  2. knop
  1. fleuron
  2. crope
  1. epi-
  2. crop
  1. terminal
  2. pommel
  1. hip-knob
  2. termination

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‘finial’ has been looked up 1950 times, loved by 3 people, added to 27 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 9.