ogive

American  

[oh-jahyv, oh-jahyv] / ˈoʊ dʒaɪv, oʊˈdʒaɪv /

noun

1. Architecture.

   1. a diagonal vaulting rib.

   2. a pointed arch.

2. Statistics. the distribution curve of a frequency distribution.

3. Rocketry. the curved nose of a missile or rocket.

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ogive British  

/ ˈəʊdʒaɪv, əʊˈdʒaɪv /

noun

1. a diagonal rib or groin of a Gothic vault

2. another name for lancet arch

3. statistics a graph the ordinates of which represent cumulative frequencies of the values indicated by the corresponding abscissas

4. the conical head of a missile or rocket that protects the payload during its passage through the atmosphere

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Other Word Forms

• ogival
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of ogive

1605–15; < French, Middle French ogive, augive < Spanish aljibe < Spanish Arabic al-jibb the well

Example Sentences

Significantly, the cathedral is a prominent showcase of the Plantagenet Gothic style, incorporating a ceiling of rounded ogive vaults and walls with blind arcades beneath bay windows.

From Washington Post • Nov. 24, 2021

The relentless ogive of growth fascinated Jacques Monod, the French biologist.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

What ogive gates from gold of Ophir wrought, What walls of Parian, whiter than a rose, What towers of crystal, for the eyes of thought, Hast builded on far Islands of Repose?

From Kentucky Poems by Cawein, Madison J.

It was by no accident, I think, that the ogive, in which lay the secret of Gothic, appeared first in Norman Romanesque.

From Impressions and Comments by Ellis, Havelock

One follows a hedge, climbs a path, and enters an open portal which has sunken into the ground to the depth of one third of its ogive.

From Over Strand and Field by Flaubert, Gustave