echinus

American  

[ih-kahy-nuhs] / ɪˈkaɪ nəs /

noun

plural

echini

1. any sea urchin of the genus Echinus.

2. Architecture.

   1. an ovolo molding, especially one having an outline with several radii or one carved with an egg-and-dart pattern.

   2. the prominent circular molding supporting the abacus of a Doric or Tuscan capital.

   3. Also called cymatium.  the circular molding, usually carved with an egg-and-dart pattern, forming part of an Ionic capital between the volutes and under the balteus.

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echinus British  

/ ɪˈkaɪnəs /

noun

1. architect an ovolo moulding between the shaft and the abacus of a Doric column

2. any of the sea urchins of the genus Echinus, such as E. esculentus ( edible sea urchin ) of the Mediterranean

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Etymology

Origin of echinus

1325–75; Middle English < Latin < Greek echînos hedgehog, sea urchin

Example Sentences

This, though a less rational and expressive form for its particular office than is the echinus of the Doric cap, is a far more perfect symbol of the feminine element in nature.

From The Beautiful Necessity Seven Essays on Theosophy and Architecture by Bragdon, Claude Fayette

The echinus, or sea-urchin, is another species of the class and order vermes, mollusca.

From Antigua and the Antiguans, Volume II (of 2) A full account of the colony and its inhabitants from the time of the Caribs to the present day by Anonymous

The beak opens and shuts at intervals, like the jaws of the pedicellari� of the echinus, and there is altogether, in general principle, a remarkable similarity between the structures.

From On the Genesis of Species by Mivart, St. George

Yet the echinus can have, at the best, none but the most distant genetic relationship with the Polyzoa.

From On the Genesis of Species by Mivart, St. George

Very frequently specimens of C. echinus occur in which some of the tubercles do not develop central spines, and then the spine characters resemble those of C. radians.

From North American Species of Cactus by Coulter, John Merle