egg and dart

American  

noun

Architecture.

1. a design for enriching an ovolo or echinus, consisting of a closely set, alternating series of oval and pointed forms.

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egg and dart British  

noun

1. 1. an ornamental moulding in which a half egg shape alternates with a dart, tongue, or anchor shape

   2. ( as modifier )

      egg-and-dart moulding

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Etymology

Origin of egg and dart

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

The ornament of which Mr. R. thus speaks is indifferently called egg and tongue, egg and dart, as well as egg and arrow.

From Notes and Queries, Number 79, May 3, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc by Bell, George

The ancient Arabic alphabet and script is itself at once so elegant and so exact that it can be used as a fixed ornament, like the egg and dart pattern or the Greek key.

From The New Jerusalem by Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)

They are too fragmentary for restoration, but include bead and reel mouldings, egg and dart patterns, portions of palmette and lotus patterns of elaborate design.

From A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, Volume I (of 2) by Smith, A. H.

Two members of an Ionic capital, consisting of two courses of an egg and dart moulding.

From A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, Volume I (of 2) by Smith, A. H.

Top of stel�, in form of a capital of a pilaster with a palmette between two volutes springing from acanthus leaves, and an egg and dart moulding.

From A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, Volume I (of 2) by Smith, A. H.