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definitions

lunette

[loo-net]
See more synonyms for lunette on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. any of various objects or spaces of crescentlike or semicircular outline or section.
  2. Architecture. (in the plane of a wall) an area enframed by an arch or vault.
  3. a painting, sculpture, or window filling such an area.
  4. Fortification. a work consisting of a salient angle with two flanks and an open gorge.
  5. Ordnance. a towing ring in the trail plate of a towed vehicle, as a gun carriage.
  6. Ecclesiastical. Luna(def 3).

Origin of lunette

1570–80; < French, diminutive of lune moon < Latin lūna; see -ette
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for lunette

bay, aperture, bow, fenestella, oriel, jalousie, dormer, casement, fenestration, fanlight, fenestra, lunette, skylight, porthole, lancet, lucarne, mullioned

Examples from the Web for lunette

Historical Examples of lunette

  • Only on Sans Quartier's cabbage-patch the lunette now stood complete.

    Fort Amity

    Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

  • It seems that there was a lunette over the top, containing a Pietà.

    Luca Signorelli

    Maud Cruttwell

  • The archbishop fell to the ground, as did the lunette of the monstrance.

  • This work has a lunette which is generally, and I suppose correctly, ascribed to Gaudenzio.

    Ex Voto

    Samuel Bulter

  • The lunette, however, was evidently painted by the Limbourgs.

British Dictionary definitions for lunette

lunette

noun
  1. anything that is shaped like a crescent
  2. an oval or circular opening to admit light in a dome
  3. a semicircular panel containing a window, mural, or sculpture
  4. a ring attached to a vehicle, into which a hook is inserted so that it can be towed
  5. a type of fortification like a detached bastion
  6. Also called: lune RC Church a case fitted with a bracket to hold the consecrated host

Word Origin for lunette

C16: from French: crescent, from lune moon, from Latin lūna
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 lunette
n.

1570s, "semi-circular horseshoe," from Middle French lunette (13c.), literally "little moon," diminutive of lune "moon," from Latin luna (see luna). Later applied to a wide range of objects and ornamentations resembling a crescent moon.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper