echinus

American  

[ih-kahy-nuhs] / ɪˈkaɪ nəs /

noun

• echini
  plural

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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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• echini
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of echinus

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

echinus echini

If I was to bend round the rays of the starfish and fill up the interior, I could produce an animal very like the echinus.

From Ernest Bracebridge School Days by William I. Thomas

The projection of the echinus beyond the fillet of the abacus should be equal to the size of the eye.

From The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius Pollio

These shafts, as also the echinus moulding of the capitals, are richly carved with the chevron and spirals, probably copied from the brass sheathing of wood columns and doorways referred to by Homer.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 4 "Aram, Eugene" to "Arcueil" by Various

Some have only the Latin plural, which usually changes us to i; as, alumnus, alumni; androgynus, androgyni; calculus, calculi; dracunculus, dracunculi; echinus, echini; magus, magi.

From The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown

The windows of the principal story, the echinus moulding of which is handsome, have bold and enriched pediments, and the centre windows are honoured by massive balustrade balconies.

From Old and New London Volume I by Walter Thornbury

Some have only the Latin plural, which usually changes us to i; as, alumnus, alumni; androgynus, androgyni; calculus, calculi; dracunculus, dracunculi; echinus, echini; magus, magi.

From The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown

But, if pearls and bright shells be rarely found there, surely waifs, better than echini and sting-rays, are to be gathered on the “shores of long ago.”

From Sword and Gown A Novel by George A. (George Alfred) Lawrence

Those of starfishes have two movable jaws, or blades, and are usually nearly, or quite, sessile; those of echini usually have three jaws and a pedicel.

From The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary Section P and Q by Project Gutenberg

Superb specimens were secured,—large boulders crowded with colossal shells and perfectly preserved echini.

From Louis Agassiz: His Life and Correspondence by Louis Agassiz

Among the molluscs and zoophytes, I found in the meshes of the net several species of alcyonarians, echini, hammers, spurs, dials, cerites, and hyalleae.

From Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne

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