Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A slight convexity or swelling, as in the shaft of a column, intended to compensate for the illusion of concavity resulting from straight sides.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In architecture, the swelling or outward curve of tho profile of tho shaft of a column.
- noun In pathology, constrictive or tonic spasm, as cramp, lockjaw, etc. See
tetanus . Alsoentasia .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Arch.) A slight convex swelling of the shaft of a column.
- noun (Med.) Same as
Entasia .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun architecture A slight
convex curvature introduced into the shaft of acolumn for aesthetic reasons, or to compensate for the illusion of concavity.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a slight convexity in the shaft of a column; compensates for the illusion of concavity that viewers experience when the sides are perfectly straight
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The ancient Greeks used a technique known as entasis which incorporates a slight convexity in the columns of the Parthenon to compensate for the illusion of concavity created by parallel lines.
EXTRALIFE – By Scott Johnson - Really cool collection of Illusions and Paradoxes 2005
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"I was reading a guide book which explained that the bulging of the columns 'base - known as entasis - is to counteract the well-known visual illusion that if you don't bulge them out in the middle, they appear waisted in the middle.
unknown title 2008
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Beard is rather dismissive of their optical sophistication, shown in the curvature of the stylobate and in the entasis of the columns — the slight outward swelling of a column designed to counter the optical illusion of concavity, were the columns 'sides to be perfectly straight.
Looking for the Lost Greeks Wills, Garry 2003
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With regard to the enlargement made at the middle of columns, which among the Greeks is called [Greek: entasis], at the end of the book a figure and calculation will be subjoined, showing how an agreeable and appropriate effect may be produced by it.
The Ten Books on Architecture Vitruvius Pollio
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The entasis as given by Fra Giocondo in the edition of 1511. 2.
The Ten Books on Architecture Vitruvius Pollio
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And they are an illustration of what was a marked characteristic of all classic architecture, which shows a slight curvature or entasis in its long lines.
Roman Mosaics Or, Studies in Rome and Its Neighbourhood Hugh Macmillan
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This peculiarity is a convexity, or _entasis_, as it is called, on the inner faces.
Roman Mosaics Or, Studies in Rome and Its Neighbourhood Hugh Macmillan
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These provide the slight entasis to the outline which is found in so many spires, as it is in classic columns, and is designed to correct the appearance of hollowness which would occur in so long a straight line.
The Churches of Coventry A Short History of the City & Its Medieval Remains Frederick W. Woodhouse
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The exaggeration in the entasis of the archaic column disappears, its tapering was diminished, its height increased, and the overhang of the capitals reduced, till in the Theseion (465 B. C.) and the Parthenon (450-438 B. C.) we reach the final inimitable type.
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The entasis from the temple of Mars Ultor in Rome compared with
The Ten Books on Architecture Vitruvius Pollio
bilby commented on the word entasis
Bugger. I prefer my illusions undisturbed.
January 5, 2008
knitandpurl commented on the word entasis
"Fātima steps over those motionless bodies caught up in what they're protesting; following in Fātima's footsteps, I enter the high-ceilinged room, airy and light, slender columns, exaggerated by entasis, shaft topped by a capital, a typically Tunisoise interpretation of composite order, the capital itself topped by a tall impost."
Talismano by Abdelwahab Meddeb, translated by Jane Kuntz, p 173 of the Dalkey Archive Press paperback
October 1, 2011
qms commented on the word entasis
The cause of diplomacy benefits
From delicate shifts of emphasis,
So politely belittle
The bulge in his middle
With praise of the genius of entasis.
June 30, 2015