finial
IPA: fˈɪniʌɫ
noun
- (architecture) Especially in Gothic architecture: an ornament, often in the form of a bunch or knot of foliage, on the peak of the gable of a roof, a pediment, a pinnacle, etc.
- (by extension) Any decorative fitting on the corner, end, or top of an object such as a canopy, a fencepost, a flagpole, or the newel post of a staircase.
- (figurative, also attributive) The completion or end of something.
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Examples of "finial" in Sentences
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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).
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