Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A representation of a flower with four petals or a leaf with four leaflets, especially in heraldry.
- n. Architecture Tracery or an ornament with four foils or lobes.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A leaf with four leaflets, as sometimes that of clover.
- n. In architecture, an opening or a panel divided by cusps or foliations into four foils, or, more correctly, the figure formed by the cusps. This ornament resembles the four petals of a cruciform flower, but is certainly not derived from imitation of such a flower. Bands of small quatrefoils are much used as ornaments in the English Perpendicnlar style, and sometimes in the Decorated. The same name is given also to flowers and leaves of similar form carved in relief as ornaments on moldings, etc. See also cut under
gallery . - n. In heraldry, a four-leaved grass, or leaf divided into four leaflets, used as a bearing.
Wiktionary
Etymologies
- Middle English quaterfoile : Old French quatre, four; see quatrain + Old French foil, leaf; see foil2.
Examples
“Above the quatrefoil is another representing the Redeemer seated on a cushioned throne with the Virgin, and below another representing St. Michael overcoming Satan.”
“Within the quatrefoil was a seated Figure, with something like scales in one hand, apparently representing our Lord in His glory.”
“The hubby was researching our church's stained glass windows and told me, "They have this thing that I finally found out is called a 'quatrefoil', but I can't really find out anything about the symbollism...”
“An indoor caf looking out on the courtyard boasts a welcoming marble fireplace with a bronze USC seal and a quatrefoil motif that carries over nicely into the decorative wall tiling.”
“From the vantage point of the bench, we can see in the center quatrefoil that each semi-circle contains a Calluna vulgaris ‘Sunset’.”
“Last year it was decided after much careful pondering that after the grand display in spring of white viridiflora tulips the quadrants surrounding the center quatrefoil were just plain blah.”
“It is in a stand by the arbor path and in the center quatrefoil of the knot garden.”
“At the top of these lancets is a small quatrefoil oculus or rose.”
Sensual Encounters: Monastic Women and Spirituality in Medieval Germany
“The boy might have been five years old or seven; he was small and underfed, clad in a filthy tunic made from a grain sack stamped with a quatrefoil crest, with rags tied around his feet.”
“Still in the knot garden, on the lavender laced quatrefoil center this hard working pollen jockey seems to have a pointy protuberance on his hind end.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘quatrefoil’.
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 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...
chained_bear A compound leaf or flower consisting of four (usually rounded) leaflets or petals radiating from a common centre; also, a representation or conventional imitation of this, esp. as a charge in Heraldry. Feb 6, 2007