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  1. sgraffito love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Decoration produced on pottery or ceramic by scratching through a surface of plaster or glazing to reveal a different color underneath.
  2. n. Ware decorated in this manner.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. Same as graffito decoration (which see, under graffito).
  2. n. Same as graffito ware (which see, under graffito).
  3. n. A kind of pottery made in England, in which clays of different colors are laid one upon another and the pattern is produced by cutting away the outer layers, as in cameos and cameo-glass. [The term is improperly applied in this case, and is in a sense a trade-mark.]

Wiktionary

  1. n. A technique in ceramics, art and wall design, where the top layer of pigment or slip is scratched through to reveal an underlying layer.
  2. v. To produce a design using this technique.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. (Paint.) Scratched; -- said of decorative painting of a certain style, in which a white overland surface is cut or scratched through, so as to form the design from a dark ground underneath.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a ceramic or mural decoration made by scratching off a surface layer to reveal the ground

Etymologies

  1. Borrowed from the Italian, which derives from the Ancient Greek graphein, meaning "to write or scratch." (Wiktionary)
  2. Italian, past participle of sgraffire, to scratch, from sgraffio, a scratch, from sgraffiare, to scratch, from Old Italian : s-, intensive pref.; see sforzando + graffiare, to scratch; see graffito. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

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‘sgraffito’ has been looked up 1778 times, loved by 1 person, added to 10 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 16.