SPANDREL • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Spandrel

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noun

Spandrel n.

(Arch.) The irregular triangular space between the curve of an arch and the inclosing right angle; or the space between the outer moldings of two contiguous arches and a horizontal line above them, or another arch above and inclosing them.

A narrow mat or passe partout for a picture. (Cant)

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Etymology of 'Spandrel'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Spandrel" Quotes from Famous Books

... this division is of plain round-headed trefoils very wide, and the spandrel of each arch is pierced with a small round trefoil, very sharply cut, looking, in fact, as if it were cut with a punch: this cornice, simple though it is, I think, very beautiful, and in my photograph the broad trefoils of it throw sharp black shadows on the stone behind ...

— The World of Romance - being Contributions to The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine, 1856 • William Morris

... as well as the spandrels above the arches are lined. Up to about the height of fifteen feet, above a stone bench, the tiles, blue, yellow, and orange, are arranged in panels, two different patterns being used alternatively, with beautiful borders, while in each spandrel towards the central aisle an Emblem of the Virgin, Tower of Ivory, Star of the Sea, and so on, is surrounded by blue and yellow intertwining leaves. Above these, as above the panels on the walls, the whole is covered with dark and light tiles arranged ...

— Portuguese Architecture • Walter Crum Watson

Words linked to "Spandrel" : architecture, spandril