stylobate

American  

[stahy-luh-beyt] / ˈstaɪ ləˌbeɪt /

noun

Architecture.

1. a course of masonry, part of the stereobate, forming the foundation for a colonnade, especially the outermost colonnade.

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stylobate British  

/ ˈstaɪləˌbeɪt /

noun

1. a continuous horizontal course of masonry that supports a colonnade

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Etymology

Origin of stylobate

1555–65; < Latin stȳlobatēs, stȳlobata < Greek stȳlobátēs, equivalent to stȳlo- stylo- ² + -batēs ( ba- (base of baínein to step) + -tēs agent suffix)

Example Sentences

The fluted columns, lifted up on the marble stylobate which has been trodden by the feet of Pericles and Phidias, are huge in girth, and rise to a height of between thirty and forty feet.

From Project Gutenberg

Stylobate, stī′lō-bāt, n. the substructure of a temple beneath the columns.

From Project Gutenberg

This vast rotunda, forming the grand base of the Monument, is surrounded by 30 columns of massive proportions, being 12 feet in diameter and 45 feet high, elevated upon a lofty base or stylobate of 20 feet elevation and 300 feet square, surmounted by an entablature 20 feet high, and crowned by a massive balustrade 15 feet in height.

From Project Gutenberg

Burton's original idea was to embellish the main piers with groups of trophies; to place the figure of a warrior on each stylobate; to enrich the base with a sculptural representation of an ancient triumph; to place a statue over each column; and various other embellishments.

From Project Gutenberg

The stylobate of the western façade could not be placed so low as the eastern because of the door and the necessity of a heavy block three courses high at the south end of the wall.

From Project Gutenberg