GLOSSARY OF ARCHITECTURAL TERMS
Abacus.—The uppermost division of the capital, or head of a column, originally square and plain, in later styles more or less decorated with moulding, and in the Early English and Decorated periods generally circular or polygonal. In classic architecture it supported the horizontal superstructure of the entablature, but in Gothic architecture the arch rises directly from it.
Apse.—The round or polygonal end of a chancel.
Architrave.—The lowest division of the entablature in classic architecture; ornamental moulding round the exterior curve of an arch or round the openings of doors and windows, etc.
Ashlar.—Hewn stone.
Aumbrey or Almery.—A cupboard for containing the sacred vessels.
Ball-Flower Moulding.—Ornament resembling a ball enclosed in a globular flower of three petals.
Baluster.—A small turned wooden pillar, generally circular.
Bay.—The compartment of a church formed by the buttresses or pilasters on the walls, the main arches or pillars, the ribs of the vaulting, or other features which separate the building into corresponding portions.
Campanile.—A bell tower.
Cavetto.—A concave moulding of a quarter of a circle, used in classical and other styles of architecture.
Chamfer.—To cut off angles.
Clerestory or Clear-Story.—An upper storey, or row of windows in a Gothic church; so called to distinguish it from the blind-storey, or triforium.
Corbel.—A projecting stone or piece of timber supporting a weight.
Corbel-Table.—A row of corbels.
Credence.—A small table or shelf near the altar on which the bread and wine were placed before they were consecrated.
Crocket.—A bunch of projecting flowers or foliage decorating pinnacles, arches, etc.
Cusps.—The projecting points in Gothic tracery, or inside an arch; sometimes worked at the ends with leaves, flowers, or heads.
Dog-Tooth Moulding.—Ornaments usually consisting of four plain leaves, arranged so as to form a point.
Dripstone.—Projecting tablet or moulding over heads of archways, windows, doorways, etc.
Fan-Vaulting.—Vaulting in which the ribs rise with the same curve and diverge equally in every direction from the springing of the vault.
Finial.—A foliated ornament ending a pinnacle or gable, etc.
Flamboyant.—A name given to Late Decorated style of architecture from the flame-like wavings of its tracery.
Gargoyle.—A projecting spout, often carved in a grotesque form.
Groin.—The angle formed by the intersection of vaults.
Herring-Bone Work.—Masonry in which the stones are placed aslant, forming a fish-bone pattern.
Jamb.—The side of a window or door, etc.
Miserere.—A projecting bracket on the under side of the seats of stalls, which were made to turn up; the monks were allowed to lean on these brackets during the long services, which were performed standing.
Mullion.—Perpendicular bar between the lights of windows in Gothic architecture.
Nail-headed Moulding.—Moulding in imitation of ornamental nail-heads.
Newell.—The column round which a spiral staircase winds.
Ogee.—A moulding partly concave and partly convex, forming a round and a hollow. Term also applied to an arch formed of contrasted curves.
Orders.—The recesses of a divided arch.
Parvise.—A small room over the porch.
Pilaster.—A pillar, sometimes disengaged but generally attached to a wall.
Piscina.—A basin attached to the wall near the altar of a church, where the priest washed his hands and rinsed the chalice.
Plate-Tracery.—Tracery which appears as if formed by piercing a flat surface with ornamental patterns.
Plinth.—The lowest division of the base of a column, or projecting face at the bottom of a wall.
Presbytery.—The part of a church where the high altar stands.
Reredos.—A screen at the back of an altar.
Rood-Loft.—A gallery over the screen separating the nave from the chancel, on which the great cross or rood was fixed.
Sedilia.—The seats for the officiating clergy.
Soffit.—The under side of an arch, cornice, etc.
Spandrel.—The triangular space between arches.
Splay.—The expansion given to windows and other openings by slanting the sides.
Springing.—The point at which an arch unites with its support.
Squint.—An oblique opening in the wall of a church.
Stoup.—A vessel or stone basin formed in the wall, serving as a receptacle for holy water.
String-Course.—A horizontal moulding running along a wall.
Transom.—A horizontal cross-bar in a window.
Triforium.—A gallery in the wall over the arches which separates the body of the church from the aisles.
Tympanum.—The space above the horizontal opening of a doorway and the arch above; the space between an arch and the triangular drip-stone or hood-mould which surmounts it.