baroque

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• adjective Of, relating to, or characteristic of a style in art and architecture developed in Europe from the early 17th to mid-18th century, emphasizing dramatic, often strained effect and typified by bold, curving forms, elaborate ornamentation, and overall balance of disparate parts.
• adjective Music Of, relating to, or characteristic of a style of composition that flourished in Europe from about 1600 to 1750, marked by expressive dissonance and elaborate ornamentation.
• adjective Extravagant, complex, or bizarre, especially in ornamentation.
• adjective Irregular in shape.
• noun The baroque style or period in art, architecture, or music.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun Specifically, in music, a style of composition which abounds in extreme, irregular, or unpleasant harmonies or metrical patterns.
• Odd; bizarre; corrupt and fantastic in style.
• Specifically, in architecture, applied to a style of decoration which prevailed in Europe during a great part of the eighteenth century, and may be considered to have begun toward the close of the seventeenth century.
• Sometimes written baroco, barocco, barock.
• noun An object of irregular and peculiar form, especially in ornamental art.
• noun Ornament, design, etc., of the style and period called baroque. See I., 2.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• adjective (Arch.) of, pertaining to, or characteristic of, an artistic style common in the 17th century, characterized by the use of complex and elaborate ornamentation, curved rather than straight lines, and, in music a high degree of embellishment.
• adjective Hence, overly complicated, or ornamented to excess; in bad taste; grotesque; odd.
• adjective Irregular in form; -- said esp. of a pearl.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• adjective ornate, intricate, decorated, laden with detail.
• adjective complex and beautiful, despite an outward irregularity.
• adjective chiseled from stone, or shaped from wood, in a garish, crooked, twisted, or slanted sort of way, grotesque.
• adjective embellished with figures and forms such that every level of relief gives way to more details and contrasts.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the historic period from about 1600 until 1750 when the baroque style of art, architecture, and music flourished in Europe
• noun elaborate and extensive ornamentation in decorative art and architecture that flourished in Europe in the 17th century
• adjective of or relating to or characteristic of the elaborately ornamented style of architecture, art, and music popular in Europe between 1600 and 1750
• adjective having elaborate symmetrical ornamentation