Definitions

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

  • noun An upright ornament along the eaves of a tiled roof designed to conceal the joints between the rows of tiles.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An ornament on a vase so placed as to conceal the part where the handle joins the body.
  • noun In class. arch., an upright ornament, generally of marble or terra cotta, placed at the eaves of a tiled roof, at the end of the last imbrex or tile of each ridge of tiling, to conceal the joining of the tiles.

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

  • noun An ornament fixed upon a frieze.
  • noun An ornament at the eaves, concealing the ends of the joint tiles of the roof.
  • noun An ornament of the cymatium of a classic cornice, sometimes pierced for the escape of water.

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

  • noun architecture The vertical blocks which terminate the covering tiles of the roof of a Roman, Etruscan, or Greek temple.
  • noun architecture Any decoration serving to cover the ends of roofing tiles.

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

  • noun carved ornament at the eaves of a tile roof concealing the joints between tiles

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin antefīxa, pl. of antefīxum, something fastened in front, from antefīxus, fastened in front : ante-, ante- + fīxus, fastened, past participle of fīgere, to fasten; see dhīgw- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin antefixa, from past participle of antefigo ("to fasten in front of")

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Examples

  • We also found a well preserved terra cotta antefix which certainly indicates a very early date for the temple.

    The Assos Journals of Francis H. Bacon 2006

  • Close to the back wall, a deposit was exposed with some special finds, such as an antefix (a piece of terracotta roof decoration, being the front of the lowest row of covering tiles, see Find of the Week), a rare type of oil lamp, and several decorated pottery sherds.

    Interactive Dig Sagalassos - Odeion Report 2 2003

  • The antefix has the breadth of a hole and one eighth, and the thickness of one hole.

    The Ten Books on Architecture Vitruvius Pollio

  • Terracotta antefix -- the outer face of the lowest tile from a down sloping row of "Corinthian" covering tiles, which covered the curved or upstanding joints of the large horizontal tiles below them, so that no rain could infiltrate the roof).

    Interactive Dig Sagalassos - Find of the Week 2 2007 2003

Comments

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  • A decorated upright slab, fixed vertically at regular intervals along the lower edge of a roof to cover or conceal the open end of a row of tiles. Usually in the form of an anthemion.

    January 5, 2008

  • JM is not against fixing the antefix

    November 26, 2009