molding

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act or process of molding.
2. n. Something that is molded.
3. n. An embellishment in strip form, made of wood or other structural material, that is used to decorate or finish a surface, such as the wall of a room or building or the surface of a door or piece of furniture. Also called mold¹.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The act of covering with mold; mold used to cover the roots of plants.
2. n. The process of shaping any plastic substance into a given form, as wax into artistic figures, or clay into bricks.
3. n. Anything cast in a mold, or anything formed as if by a mold.
4. n. In architecture, a member of construction or decoration so treated as to introduce varieties of outline or contour in edges or surfaces, whether on projections or in cavities, such as on cornices, string-courses, bases, door- or window-jambs, lintels, etc. In classical architecture moldings are divided into three classes: the right-lined, as the fillet, tænia, lislet, regula; the curved, as the astragal or bead. the torus, the cavetto, the quarter-round, ovolo, and echinus; and the composite, as the ogee, talon, or cyma reversa, the cyma recta or doucine, and the scotia or trochilos, all of which are known by many synonymous names. In Roman architecture all curved moldings are formed of portions of circles, while in Greek architecture they are for the most part formed of some conic section, of which the curve, in good work, is always of extreme refinement. All these moldings are frequently enriched by carving. In the architecture of the middle ages there is very great diversity in the form and arrangement of the moldings. In the Norman style they consist almost entirely of rounds and hollows. variously combined with splays and fillets, a striking peculiarity of this style being the recurrence of moldings broken into zigzag lines. In the succeeding English style, the early Pointed, the moldings are much lighter and more boldly cut. In the Decorated style of the fourteenth century there is still greater diversity, and this period is further characterized by the introduction of the roll-molding, and another termed the wave-molding. In the Perpendicular style large and often shallow hollows prevail, and the moldings are in general of flatter profile and less effective than those of earlier periods. The moldings of medieval architecture are very commonly sculptured with surface-ornament beautiful in design and elaborate in workmanship. See cuts under dogtooth, double cone, egg, indented, keel-molding, lozenge, fret, 3.

Wiktionary

1. n. The act or process of shaping in or on a mold, or of making molds; the art or occupation of a molder.
2. n. Anything cast in a mold, or which appears to be so, as grooved or ornamental bars of wood or metal.
3. n. architecture A plane, or curved, narrow surface, either sunk or projecting, used for decoration by means of the lights and shades upon its surface and to conceal joints, especially between unlike materials.
4. n. woodwork A planing machine for making moldings.
5. n. founding A machine to assist in making molds for castings.
6. n. milling A mill for shaping timber.
7. n. founding A kind of sand containing clay, used in making molds.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act or process of shaping in or on a mold, or of making molds; the art or occupation of a molder.
2. n. Anything cast in a mold, or which appears to be so, as grooved or ornamental bars of wood or metal, or sculptures.
3. n. (Arch.) A plane, or curved, narrow surface, either sunk or projecting, used for decoration by means of the lights and shades upon its surface. Moldings vary greatly in pattern, and are generally used in groups, the different members of each group projecting or retreating, one beyond another. See Cable, n., 3, and Crenelated molding, under Crenelate, v. t.
4. n. a decorative strip used for ornamentation or finishing.
5. n. a preliminary sculpture in wax or clay from which a finished work can be copied.
6. adj. Used in making a mold or moldings; used in shaping anything according to a pattern.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a decorative strip used for ornamentation or finishing
2. n. sculpture produced by molding
3. n. the act of creating something by casting it in a mold
4. n. a preliminary sculpture in wax or clay from which a finished work can be copied
5. n. a decorative recessed or relieved surface on an edge