cavetto

[ kuh-vet-oh; Italian kah-vet-taw ]

/ kəˈvɛt oʊ; Italian kɑˈvɛt tɔ /

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noun, plural ca·vet·tos, ca·vet·ti

[kuh-vet-ee; Italian kah-vet-tee], /kəˈvɛt i; Italian kɑˈvɛt ti/, Architecture.

a concave molding the outline of which is a quarter circle.

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Origin of cavetto

1670–80; <Italian, equivalent to cav(o) (<Latin cavus or cavum hollow place; see cave) + -etto-et

Words nearby cavetto

caver, cavern, cavernicolous, cavernous, cavesson, cavetto, cave tubing, caviar, cavicorn, cavie, cavil

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use cavetto in a sentence

Yet the Torcello base resembles these Gothic ones both in expansion beneath and in depth of cavetto above.
The Stones of Venice, Volume I (of 3)|John Ruskin
One of the most distinctive mouldings is the cavetto, a wide shallow hollow in the centre of a group of mouldings.
English Villages|P. H. Ditchfield
The apophyge is the inverted cavetto or concave sweep, on the upper edge of which the diminishing shaft rests.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 3|Various
A bold but shallow cavetto or hollow cornice moulding is frequently carried along the wall just under the parapet.
The Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture, Elucidated by Question and Answer, 4th ed.|Matthew Holbeche Bloxam

Cavetto, ka-vet′to, n. a hollowed moulding whose curvature is the quarter of a circle, used chiefly in cornices.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D)|Various

British Dictionary definitions for cavetto

cavetto

/ (kəˈvɛtəʊ, Italian kaˈvetto) /

noun plural -ti (-tɪ, Italian -ti)

architect a concave moulding, shaped to a quarter circle in cross section

Word Origin for cavetto

C17: from Italian, from cavo hollow, from Latin cavus

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012