Tracery

Tracery
Tracery Tra"cer/y, n.; pl. {Traceries} (Arch.) 1. Ornamental work with rambled lines. Especially: (a) The decorative head of a Gothic window. [1913 Webster]

Note: Window tracery is of two sorts, plate tracery and bar tracery. Plate tracery, common in Italy, consists of a series of ornamental patterns cut through a flat plate of stone. Bar tracery is a decorative pattern formed by the curves and intersections of the molded bars of the mullions. Window tracery is imitated in many decorative objects, as panels of wood or metal either pierced or in relief. See also Stump tracery under {Stump}, and Fan tracery under {Fan}. [1913 Webster] (b) A similar decoration in some styles of vaulting, the ribs of the vault giving off the minor bars of which the tracery is composed. [1913 Webster]

2. A tracing of lines; a system of lines produced by, or as if by, tracing, esp. when interweaving or branching out in ornamental or graceful figures. ``Knit with curious tracery.'' --Burns. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Tracery — is a series of intersecting ribs used in Gothic architecture, especially windows and, in the Perpendicular Gothic style, vaulting. Tracery is the stonework used to support the glass in a stained glass window. When used in windows, it is usually… …   Wikipedia

  • tracery — (n.) mid 15c., a place for drawing, formed in English from TRACE (Cf. trace) (v.) + ERY (Cf. ery). Architectural sense, in reference to intersecting rib work in the upper part of a gothic window, is attested from 1660s. Introduced by Wren, who… …   Etymology dictionary

  • tracery — ► NOUN (pl. traceries) 1) Architecture ornamental stone openwork. 2) a delicate branching pattern. DERIVATIVES traceried adjective …   English terms dictionary

  • tracery — [trās′ər ē] n. pl. traceries [< TRACE1 + ERY] ornamental work of interlacing or branching lines, as in a Gothic window, some kinds of embroidery, etc …   English World dictionary

  • tracery — /tray seuh ree/, n., pl. traceries. 1. ornamental work consisting of ramified ribs, bars, or the like, as in the upper part of a Gothic window, in panels, screens, etc. 2. any delicate, interlacing work of lines, threads, etc., as in carving or… …   Universalium

  • Tracery —    Gothic ornamental stonework carved to form geometric patterns, most commonly trefoils and quatrefoils. In the earliest examples of Gothic architecture, tracery was confined mainly to the upper parts of pointed windows. In later Gothic… …   Dictionary of Renaissance art

  • Tracery — the ornamental intersecting stonework in the upper part of a window, screen or panel Stone openwork pattern in head of Gothic window, screen, etc. (Wood, Margaret. The English Medieval House, 415) Related terms: Tracery, Plate, Tracery, Bar …   Medieval glossary

  • tracery — UK [ˈtreɪsərɪ] / US noun [countable/uncountable] Word forms tracery : singular tracery plural traceries a) a pattern of curving lines in the stone above a church window b) a pattern made by narrow lines or objects crossing each other …   English dictionary

  • tracery — noun (plural eries) Date: 1669 1. architectural ornamental work with branching lines; especially decorative openwork in the head of a Gothic window 2. a decorative interlacing of lines suggestive of Gothic tracery • traceried adjective …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • tracery — trac|e|ry [ˈtreısəri] n plural traceries [U and C] 1.) technical the curving and crossing lines of stone in the upper parts of some church windows 2.) literary an attractive pattern of lines that cross each other ▪ the delicate tracery of the… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”