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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

egg and dart

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 G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

An ovolo of conventional egg and dart motive with the customary bead and reel astragal outlines the black marble facings of the fireplace opening.

From The Colonial Architecture of Philadelphia by Frank Cousins

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 A. H. Smith

The ovolo about the marble facings of the fireplace bears the conventional bead and reel and egg and dart motives, the latter having a leaf design in alternation with the egg.

From The Colonial Architecture of Philadelphia by Frank Cousins

In San Lorenzo we find the same ideas and peculiarities, such as the odd egg and dart moulding which reappears on the Annunciation.

From Donatello, by Lord Balcarres by David Lindsay, Earl of Crawford

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