volute

American  

[vuh-loot] / vəˈlut /

noun

1. a spiral or twisted formation or object.

2. Architecture. a spiral ornament, found especially in the capitals of the Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite orders.

3. Carpentry. a horizontal scrolled termination to the handrail of a stair.

4. Zoology.

   1. a turn or whorl of a spiral shell.

   2. any of various tropical marine gastropods of the family Volutidae, many species of which have shells prized for their coloration.

5. the spiral casing surrounding the impeller of a centrifugal pump.

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adjective

1. having a volute or rolled-up form.

2. Machinery.

   1. spirally shaped or having a part so shaped.

   2. moving in a circular way, especially if combined with a lateral motion.

volute British  

/ ˈvɒljuːt, vəˈluːt /

noun

1. a spiral or twisting turn, form, or object; spiral; whorl

2. Also called: helix.  a carved ornament, esp as used on an Ionic capital, that has the form of a spiral scroll

3. any of the whorls of the spirally coiled shell of a snail or similar gastropod mollusc

4. any tropical marine gastropod mollusc of the family Volutidae, typically having a spiral shell with beautiful markings

5. a tangential part, resembling the volute of a snail's shell, that collects the fluids emerging from the periphery of a turbine, impeller pump, etc

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adjective

1. having the form of a volute; spiral

2. machinery moving in a spiral path

Other Word Forms

• volution
  noun
• intervolute
  adjective
• voluted
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of volute

First recorded in 1690–1700; from French or directly from Latin volūta “a scroll,” feminine noun use of volūtus, past participle of volvere “to turn”; see revolve

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

volute

Her basic eyeliner became an ornate volute, a swath of clown makeup, a cat mask.

From New York Times ● Jul. 27, 2011

Recurring Line and Form The everlastingly recurring egg and dart moulding and the volute are instances of the harmonious effect of very simple arrangements of recurring line and form.

From Line and Form (1900) by Walter Crane

Der progress she march, it is true, round und round, but she is arrive always der one turn higher, und der pressure on der volute is nod constant.”

From The Cattle-Baron's Daughter by Harold Bindloss

Give the nautilus itself to a mathematician, and he will show you that one secret of its gracefulness lies in its following in its volute or whorl a particular geometrical curve with rigid precision.

From Principles of Decorative Design Fourth Edition by Christopher Dresser

Ionic, ī-on′ik, adj. relating to Ionia in Greece: denoting an order in architecture distinguished by the ram's-horn volute of its capital—also Iō′nian.—vs.t.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various

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