Definitions

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

  • noun The lowermost part of an entablature in classical architecture that rests directly on top of a column.
  • noun The molding around a door or window.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In architecture: The lower division of an entablature; that member which rests immediately on the column and supports those portions of the structure which are above it. See cut under entablature.
  • noun The ornamental molding running round the extrados of an arch. Also called archivolt.
  • noun Sometimes, less properly, the molded enrichments on the faces of the jambs and lintel of a door, window, or other opening. Also called antepagment.
  • noun In fortification, the master-beam, or chief supporter, in any part of a subterranean fortification.

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

  • noun The lower division of an entablature, or that part which rests immediately on the column, esp. in classical architecture. See column.
  • noun The group of moldings, or other architectural member, above and on both sides of a door or other opening, especially if square in form.

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

  • noun architecture The lowest part of an entablature; rests on the capitals of the columns
  • noun architecture The mouldings (or other elements) framing a door, window or other rectangular opening

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

  • noun the molding around a door or window
  • noun the lowest part of an entablature; rests immediately on the capitals of the columns

Etymologies

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

[French, from Old French, from Old Italian : archi-, archi- + trave, beam (from Latin trabs, trab-; see treb- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

First attested 1563, from Italian architrave, from archi- "main" + trave "beam."

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word architrave.

Examples

  • The scion of a family of surveyors, architects and property developers, he learnt the meaning of the word architrave almost from the moment he could talk.

    Top stories from Times Online 2010

  • The scion of a family of surveyors, architects and property developers, he learnt the meaning of the word architrave almost from the moment he could talk.

    Top stories from Times Online 2010

  • Sculptured on the architrave was the Boat of the Moon, containing

    The Jewel of Seven Stars Bram Stoker 1879

  • And for the frieze and architrave, which is 4 br. and 6 in. long, 2 br. wide and 6 in. thick, 29 hundredweight., duc.

    The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci — Complete 1452-1519 Leonardo da Vinci 1485

  • And for the frieze and architrave, which is 4 br. and 6 in. long, 2 br. wide and 6 in. thick, 29 hundredweight., duc.

    The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci — Volume 2 1452-1519 Leonardo da Vinci 1485

  • These layers contained architectural fragments, some of them used as spolia (reused building elements such as architrave - frieze blocks, cornices, and columns).

    Interactive Dig Sagalassos 2003 - Lower Agora Report 10 2003

  • Oliver Shortsleeves became sadly twisted up after hearing those immediately before him spell in succession "schooner, tetrarch, pibroch and anarchy" and tried to spell "architrave" with so many letters that he would have needed no more to have spelled it twice over.

    Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill Or, Jasper Parloe's Secret Alice B. Emerson

  • It is very lofty, and on each side is a pilaster; beneath the cornice are two long cut stones, which advance like a kind of architrave, pierced by a square hole of above twelve inches, supposed to have been intended to support a bronze door.

    The Idler in France Marguerite Blessington 1819

  • Above the architrave is a projecting balcony which runs all round the gateway with a railing carried by dragons’ heads.

    Unbeaten Tracks in Japan Isabella Lucy 2004

  • "Can you read?" he asked her; "up there on the architrave is the name of

    Uarda : a Romance of Ancient Egypt — Volume 03 Georg Ebers 1867

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "Jack had introduced the electricity himself. He hadn't messed around. He ran the wires like streamers across the ceiling, tacked them on to wooden architraves, hung them from a picture rail and looped them around the curtain rods."

    —Peter Carey, Illywhacker, 34

    April 14, 2009