finial
[fin-ee-uh l, fahy-nee-]
- Architecture. a relatively small, ornamental, terminal feature at the top of a gable, pinnacle, etc.
- an ornamental termination to the top of a piece of furniture, or of one part of such a piece.
- Typography. a curve terminating the main stroke of the characters in some italic fonts.
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Origin of finial
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for finial
Historical Examples
This is especially the case with regard to the shape of the finial.
The Bronze Age and the Celtic WorldHarold Peake
Where the finial joins the roof a rayed sun of cast metal is placed.
LeadworkW. R. Lethaby
Beasts project at the gable angles, and the summit it crowned by a finial.
The Shores of the AdriaticF. Hamilton Jackson
Spires end usually in a boss or finial, surmounted by a weathercock.
ArchitectureThomas Roger Smith
And not content with this exuberance in the external ornaments of the arch, the finial interferes with its traceries.
The Stones of Venice, Volume III (of 3)John Ruskin
finial
- an ornament on top of a spire, gable, etc, esp in the form of a foliated fleur-de-lys
- an ornament at the top of a piece of furniture, etc
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Word Origin
C14: from finial (adj), variant of final
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for finial
n.
"ornament at the top of a spire, gable, etc.," mid-15c., from fyniall "putting an end to, binding" (early 15c.), a variant of final.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper