Definitions

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

  • noun A plain square block higher than a plinth, serving as a pedestal for sculpture, a vase, or a column.
  • noun A plain plinth supporting a wall.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In architecture, a low, plain member, serving as a foundation for a wall or pedestal, or to support vases or other ornaments.
  • noun One of the ridges or elevations which support the tentacles and sense-bodies of some worms.

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

  • noun A plain block or plinth forming a low pedestal; any base; especially, the base of a statue, column, or the like. See plinth.
  • noun A plain face or plinth at the lower part of a wall.

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

  • noun architecture A low plinth or pedestal used to display a statue or other art work.
  • noun mathematics The sum of the minimal submodules of a given R-module of a given ring R.
  • noun mathematics, group theory The subgroup generated by the minimal normal subgroups of a given group.

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

  • noun a plain plinth that supports a wall

Etymologies

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

[French, from Italian zoccolo, wooden shoe, from Latin socculus, diminutive of soccus, a kind of light shoe; see sock.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French socle, from Italian zoccolo ‘wooden shoe’, from Latin socculus, diminutive of soccus ‘sock’.

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Examples

  • Do you know, however, "continued he musingly —" that at Sparta (which is now Palæochori), at Sparta, I say, to the west of the citadel, among a chaos of scarcely visible ruins, is a kind of socle upon which are still legible the letters ΛΑΞΜ.

    Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. In Two Volumes. Vol. II 1840

  • Do you know, however, 'continued he musingly,' that at Sparta (which is now Palaeochori) -- at Sparta, I say, to the west of the citadel, among a chaos of scarcely visible ruins, is a kind of socle, upon which are still legible the letters.

    The Assignation 1835

  • Et puis je dois avouer que le voir tenir debout tout seul sans socle c un bonheur ... et vu la carrure et la posture ya du avoir de la galere pour trouver le point d'equilibre!

    pinku-tk Diary Entry pinku-tk 2008

  • They originally must have occupied a continuous socle elevating them even more than their mere size already did, in the central space of the complex, where we found the six-meter long dedicatory inscription of A.D.

    The Antonine Dynastic Gallery at Sagalassos 2008

  • The east side of the Northwest Heroon after the removal of the temporary scaffolding, the south side up to the level below the stylobate of the upper naiskos, and the west side of the socle up to the stylobate

    Interactive Dig Sagalassos - Restoration Report 4 2003

  • Only one small fragment of the southern upper molding of the socle is missing.

    Interactive Dig Sagalassos - Restoration Report 4 2003

  • The latter area yielded only few sherds, but a number of structures were observed, which are built in the same "primitive" style as those recorded at Düzen (no mortar, rough fieldstone socle, no tiles or brick).

    Interactive Dig Sagalassos - Survey Report 12 2003

  • The removal of temporary scaffolding allowed us to take photographs of this very impressive socle and enhanced the beauty of the whole structure.

    Interactive Dig Sagalassos - Restoration Report 4 2003

  • The socle will be dismantled again, but toward the end of the week we have started to put the infill in (mortared rubble) at the level of the dancing girls frieze.

    Interactive Dig Sagalassos - Restoration Report 4 2003

  • The whole socle (lower wall), to which the famous frieze of the dancing girls belonged, now has been completed up to the level below the platform of the temple-like structure above it.

    Interactive Dig Sagalassos - Restoration Report 4 2003

Comments

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  • See plinth.

    June 7, 2010

  • Also see the etymology of zocalo.

    April 18, 2012