Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A spiral scroll-like ornament such as that used on an Ionic capital.
- n. A spiral formation, such as one of the whorls of a gastropod shell.
- n. Any of various marine gastropod mollusks of the family Volutidae, having a spiral, often colorfully marked shell.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In architecture, a spiral scroll forming an essential part of the Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite capitals, of which it is a characteristic ornament. The number of volutes in the Greek Ionic capital is four, two each on opposite faces. In the Corinthian and Composite orders they are more numerous, in the former order being sixteen in number. See
helix , 2 (with cut), and cuts under Acanthus, Corinthian, Ionic, and composite. Alsovoluta . - n. In conchology: A member of the Volutidæ. The volutes are chiefly tropical shells, especially of IndoPaciflc waters, some of them of great rarity and beauty, and highly prized by collectors, as V. imperialis, the imperial volute, which shows beautiful sculpture and tracery, and has a circlet of spines like a diadem crowning the very large bodywhorl (see cut under
Voluta ). The peacock-tail volute, Voluta (or Scaphella) junonia, of quite another form, is white with orange spots, aud was long considered one of the rarest of shells, bringing a very high price. Many of the volutes being well known, they take more distinctive names. Such is the West Indian music-shell, Voluta musica, so called because the markings resemble written music. This species, unlike most volutes, is operculate, and is placed by some authors in another genus, Voluolyria or Musica. Some volutes are known as bat-shetts, as V. vespertilio; others as yets or boat-shells and melon-shells (see cuts underCymbium and Melo); and some forms, as Cymbium, are oviparous. See also cut underVolutidæ A volution or whorl of a spiral shell - In botany, rolled up in any direction.
Wiktionary
- n. The spiral curve on an Ionic capital.
- n. The spirls or whorls on a gastropod's shell.
- n. Any marine gastropod of the (super)family Volutidae.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A spiral scroll which forms the chief feature of the Ionic capital, and which, on a much smaller scale, is a feature in the Corinthian and Composite capitals. See
Illust. of Capital, also Helix, and Stale. - n. A spiral turn, as in certain shells.
- n. Any voluta.
WordNet 3.0
- n. ornament consisting of a curve on a plane that winds around a center with an increasing distance from the center
- adj. in the shape of a coil
- n. a structure consisting of something wound in a continuous series of loops
Etymologies
- French, from Italian voluta, from Latin volūta, from feminine past participle of volvere, to turn, roll; see wel-2 in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“Often the cavity was the home of a creature Teal called a volute, but this one was dry and deserted.”
Mid Flinx
“The water first enters the volute, which is an annular channel surrounding the runner, and then flows between the fixed guide vanes, which give the water the optimum direction of flow.”
“Most of the volute is the correct shape but the add on section i am having difficulties with.”
“To the left (the statues on the right we have already seen on the previous picture to the left) on the baldachin St. Vitus (look sharply for his rooster) and on the volute St. Achatius (with Cross and crown of thorns).”
“To the right (here we have already seen the statues on the left on the first picture of the altar to the right) on the baldachin St. Pantaleon (look with his hands nailed to his head) and on the volute St. Christopher.”
“Along with the Ionic capital's circling volute and the repeating Greek key pattern, strigilation is one of the three most popular patterns of classical art.”
“Surely it takes more time to draw an Ionic volute in a Greek-style temple than to sketch one of Frank Gehry's a postmodern punched-out windows.”
The Huffington Post: James Elkins: Are Artists Bored by Their Work?
“Many of the works here tell a layered story: A volute-krater -- a vessel used to mix water and wine -- is illustrated with two ceremonies: a formal one with a woman preparing to make an offering to the gods; the other, a frolic of maenads and satyrs.”
“(That's the shell, commonly called Rossini's volute, at right.)”
“Tranne che ci sono volute tre settimana, invece che un colpo al cuore per completare questo progetto.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘volute’.
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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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See Illust.
Being a list of words which have the phrase "See Illust." in their definitions.
siphon, pedestal, larch, grub, iris, thorax, ulula, vase, ynambu, fillet, siphonet, hood and 3 more...
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Columniation
A list of terms pertaining to columns employed in architecture.
hypostyle, peristyle, columniation, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, base, shaft, capital, entablature, architrave, frieze and 48 more...
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See cut under
A list of words with definitions directing us to "see cut under" (or "see cut at") another definition (with hilarity occasionally ensuing).
Compare compare-cut-under.spider, scorpion, spoonbill, spur, tooth, feather, gnat, beard, gyrate, astragal, jog, countercheck and 54 more...

ruzuzu "Many of the volutes being well known, they take more distinctive names. Such is the West Indian music-shell, Voluta musica, so called because the markings resemble written music."
--CD&C May 17, 2012
mollusque Oh yes, human life is very tolerable on the top of an omnibus in Holborn, when the policeman holds up his arm and the sun beats on your back, and if there is such a thing as a shell secreted by man to fit man himself here we find it, on the banks of the Thames, where the great streets join and St Paul's Cathedral, like the volute on the top of the snail shell, finishes it off.
--Virginia Woolf, 1922, Jacob's Room Jul 23, 2010
yarb On a bed, some way off, lay a pregnant woman, smoking, looking up at the smoke mingling its volutes with the shadows on the ceiling, one knee raised, one hand dreamily scratching her brown groin.
- Nabokov, Ada, or Ardor Jun 3, 2008
skipvia I suspect the musical instrument connotation came from the scroll typical of the pegheads of violins and similar instruments. Lots of shells resemble that scroll as well. Nov 16, 2007
mollusque Also a kind of seashell. Nov 16, 2007
skipvia On many stringed musical instruments, a thickening of the joint between the headstock and the neck for the purpose of strengthening of the joint. Nov 15, 2007