egg and dart

noun

Architecture.

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

egg and dart

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of egg and dart¹

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

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.

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

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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.

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V. Often in association with this horrible design we find, in Greek works, one which is as beautiful as this is painful—that egg and dart moulding, whose perfection in its place and way, has never been surpassed.

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Cornices widened and also became more elaborate as house building progressed, and a century after the first wainscot was used, we find them sometimes several inches in width and showing different motives, such as the egg and dart.

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