Glossary

GLOSSARY OF THE MEANING ATTACHED TO THE TECHNICAL TERMS USED IN THE INVENTORIES

Abacus—The uppermost member of a capital.

Acanthus—A plant represented in Classical and Renaissance ornament, used particularly in the Corinthian and Composite Orders.

Achievement—In heraldry, the shield accompanied by the appropriate external ornamants, helm, crest, mantling, supporters, etc. In the plural the term is also applied to the insignia of honour carried at the funerals and suspended over the monuments of important personages, comprising helmet and crest, shield, tabard, sword, gauntlets and spurs, banners and pennons.

Acroteria—In Classical architecture, blocks on the apex and lower ends of a pediment, often carved with honeysuckle or palmette ornament.

Aedicule—A small temple or similar shrine, or a miniature representation of the same. A surround to a doorway, niche or window having a pediment or canopy resting on pillars and suggestive of a small and exquisite building.

Agger—The earthen ridge carrying a Roman road.

Alabaster Table—A panel or series of panels of alabaster carved with religious subjects and placed at the back of an altar to form a reredos. The manufacture was a distinctively English industry of the 14th, 15th and early 16th centuries, centred at Nottingham.

Alb—Long linen robe, with close sleeves; worn by clerks of all grades.

Alerion.—In heraldry, an eagle without beak or feet.

Altar-tomb—A modern term for a tomb of stone or marble resembling, but not used as, an altar.

Amess—Fur cape with hood, and long tails in front; worn by clerks of the higher grades.

Amice—A linen strip with embroidered apparel (q.v.) placed upon the head coifwise by a clerk before vesting himself in an alb, after which it is pushed back and the apparel then appears like a collar.

Annulet—In heraldry, a ring.

Anta-ae—In Classical architecture, a pilaster terminating a range of columns in the manner of a respond, with base and capital differing from those of the columns. In antis—Placed in a line between paired anta-responds.

Antefixes—In Classical architecture, small ornamental blocks fixed at intervals along the verge of a roof to conceal the ends of the roofing-tiles.

Anthemion—Honeysuckle or palmette ornament in Classical architecture.

Apparels—Rectangular pieces of embroidery on alb, amice, etc.

Apse—A projection from the wall of a church, hall or other building, semicircular or polygonal on plan, usually covered with a semidome or vault.

Arabesque—A kind of highly stylised fret-ornament in low relief, common in Moorish architecture, and found in 16th and 17th-century work in England.

Arcade—A range of arches carried on piers or columns. Blind arcade, a series of arches, frequently interlaced, carried on shafts or pilasters against a solid wall.

Arch—The following are some of the most usual forms:—

Equilateral—A pointed arch struck with radii equal to the span.

Flat or straight—Having the soffit horizontal.

Four-centred, depressed, Tudor—A pointed arch of four arcs, the two outer and lower arcs struck from centres on the springing line and the two inner and upper arcs from centres below the springing line. Sometimes the two upper arcs are replaced by straight lines.

Lancet—A pointed arch struck with radii greater than the span.

Nodding—An ogee arch curving also forward from the plane of the wall-face.

Ogee—A pointed arch of four or more arcs, the two uppermost being reversed, i.e., convex instead of concave to the base line.

Pointed or two-centred—Two arcs struck from centres on the springing line, and meeting at the apex with a point.

Relieving—An arch, generally of rough construction, placed in the wall above the true arch or head of an opening, to relieve it of most of the superincumbent weight.

Segmental—A single arc struck from a centre below the springing line.

Segmental-pointed—A pointed arch, struck from two centres below the springing line.

Skew—Spanning between responds not diametrically opposite.

Squinch—See Squinch.

Stilted—An arch with its springing line raised above the level of the imposts.

Three-centred, elliptical—Formed with three arcs, the middle or uppermost struck from a centre below the springing line.

Archbishop's Vestments—Buskins, sandals, amice, alb, girdle, stole, maniple, tunic, dalmatic, chasuble, pall, gloves, ring, mitre; an archbishop carries a crosier but, in later times, holds a cross-staff for distinction.

Architrave—The lowest member of an entablature (q.v.); often adapted as a moulded enrichment to the jambs and head of a doorway or window-opening.

Archivolt—In Classical architecture, the moulding round an arch.

Argent—In heraldry, white or silver.

Armet—A close-helmet. Restricted in modern usage to the type in use in the 15th century with hinged cheek-pieces overlapping on the chin.

Arris—The sharp edge formed by the meeting of two surfaces. On arris—Set diagonally.

Ashlar—Masonry wrought to an even face and square edges.

Attired—In heraldry, applied to the antlers of a buck, stag, etc. when of a different tincture from the body.

Aumbry—Cupboard in a church for housing the sacred vessels.

Aventail or Camail—A tippet of mail attached to the bascinet to protect the throat and neck, and falling to the shoulders.

Azure—In heraldry, blue.

Bailey—The courtyard of a castle.

Baldacchino—A canopy, suspended or on pillars, over an altar or throne.

Ball-flower—In architecture, a decoration, peculiar to the first quarter of the 14th century, consisting of a globular flower of three petals enclosing a small ball.

Baluster—A vertical support to a rail.

Bar—See Fesse.

Barge-board—A board, often carved, fixed to the edge of a gabled roof, a short distance from the face of the wall.

Baronet's Badge—In heraldry, an escutcheon argent with the Red Hand of Ulster borne upon a baronet's shield.

Baroque—A style of architecture and decoration emerging in the 17th century which uses the repertory of classical forms with great freedom to emphazise the unity and pictorial character of its effects. The term is also applied to sculpture and painting of a comparable character.

Barrel-vaulting—See Vaulting.

Barrow—Burial mound.

Disc—A small burial mound separated from its encircling ditch by a relatively wide space.

Bell-disc—Similar but with a larger mound and relatively lesser space.

Barry—In heraldry, an even number of horizontal divisions in a shield, normally six, but sometimes four or eight. When a greater and indefinite number of divisions appear the word Burely or Barruly is used.

Bascinet—Steel head-piece, egg-shaped with pointed apex, usually worn with an aventail, and fitted with a vizor.

Bastion—A projection from the general outline of a fortress or work from which the garrison is able to see, and defend by a flanking fire, the ground before the ramparts.

Bastion-trace Fort—A 17th-century type of fort with projecting angles or bastions.

Battlemented—See Embattled.

Bays—The main vertical divisions of a building or feature. The divisions of a roof, marked by its main trusses.

Beading—A small round moulding.

Beaker—A type of pottery vessel of the early second millenium B.C. representing a British variant of the Continental Bell-Beaker and Corded-Ware ceramic traditions.

Beaker People—The brachycephalic physical type associated with pottery of Beaker type (q.v.).

Beaver—A defence for the lower part of the face.

Bell-disc Barrow—See Barrow.

Bend—In heraldry, a diagonal band crossing the shield from dexter chief to sinister base; a bend sinister runs from sinister chief to dexter base. Per bend—Applied to the field or to a charge divided bendwise with a difference of tincture on either side.

Bendwise—In the direction of a bend.

Berm—In earthworks, the level strip of ground between a bank and its accompanying ditch or scarp.

Bezant—In heraldry, a gold roundel or disc.

Billet—In architecture, an ornament used in the 11th and 12th centuries consisting of short attached cylinders or rectangles with spaces between. In heraldry, a small upright oblong charge.

Billety—In heraldry, a field or charge powdered with billets.

Bishop's Vestments—Similar to an archbishop's (q.v.) but without a pall, and a bishop carries a crosier and not a cross.

Bolection-moulding—A bold moulding of double curvature raised above the general plane of the framework of a door, fireplace or panelling.

Bond, English or Flemish—See Brick-work.

Border—In heraldry, an edging of a different tincture from the field.

Boss—A projecting square or round ornament, covering the intersections of the ribs in a vault, panelled ceiling or roof, etc.

Bouget or Water-bouget—A pair of leather bottles, borne as a heraldic charge.

Brace—In roof construction, a subsidiary timber inserted to strengthen the framing of a truss. Wind-brace, a subsidiary timber inserted between the purlins and principals of a roof to increase resistance to wind-pressure.

Brattishing—Ornamental cresting on the top of a screen, cornice, etc.

Bressummer—A spanning beam forming the direct support of an upper wall or timber-framing.

Brick-work—Header—A brick laid so that the end only appears on the face of the wall.

Stretcher—A brick laid so that one side only appears on the face of the wall.

English Bond—A method of laying bricks so that alternate courses on the face of the wall are composed of headers or stretchers only.

Flemish Bond—A method of laying bricks so that alternate headers and stretchers appear in each course on the face of the wall.

English Garden Wall Bond—Bricks laid with three courses of stretchers to one of headers.

Broach—See Spire.

Broach-stop—A half-pyramidal stop against a chamfer to effect the change from chamfer to right angle.

Burgonet—An open steel head-piece, lighter than the close-helmet, and usually with a peak over the eyes and hinged ear-pieces.

Buttress—A mass of masonry or brick-work projecting from or built against a wall to give additional strength.

Angle-buttresses—Two meeting, or nearly meeting, at an angle of 90° at the corner of a building.

Clasping-buttress—One that clasps or encases an angle.

Diagonal-buttress—One placed against the right angle formed by two walls, and more or less equiangular with both.

Flying-buttress—An arch or half-arch transmitting the thrust of a vault or roof from the upper part of a wall to an outer support.

Cable-moulding—A moulding carved in the form of a rope or cable.

Cabossed—In heraldry, applied to the head of a beast shown full-face and without a neck.

Camail—See Aventail.

Cambered—Curved so that the middle is higher than the ends or sides.

Canonical Choir-habit—Surplice, amess, cope.

Canons (of a bell)—The metal loops by which a bell is hung.

Canopy—A projection or hood over a door, window, etc., and the covering over a tomb or niche.

Canton—In heraldry, a rectangle in the corner of the shield in dexter chief.

Cartouche—In Renaissance ornament, a tablet imitating a scroll with ends rolled up, used ornamentally or bearing an inscription or arms.

Caryatid—Sculptured female figure used as column or support.

Casement—1. A wide hollow moulding in window-jambs etc.

2. The hinged part of a window.

Cassock—Long, close-sleeved gown; worn by all clerks.

Castor Ware—A colour-coated ware made in potteries near Castor (Northants.) and elsewhere from the late 2nd century A.D.

Chalice—The name used in the Inventory to distinguish the pre-Reformation type of Communion cup with a shallow bowl from the post-Reformation cup with a larger bowl.

Chamfer—The small plane formed when the sharp edge or arris of stone or wood is cut away, usually at an angle of 45°; when the plane is concave it is termed a hollow chamfer, and when the plane is sunk a sunk chamfer.

Chantry-chapel—A chapel built for the purposes of a chantry (a foundation, usually supporting a priest, for the celebration of masses for the souls of the founder and such others as he may direct).

Charge—In heraldry, the representation of an object or device upon the field.

Chasuble—A nearly circular cape with a central hole for the head worn by priests and bishops at mass. It is put on over all the other vestments.

Checky—In heraldry, a field or charge divided into squares or checkers.

Chevaux-de-frise—Iron spikes, originally set in timber to repel cavalry, now usually along the tops of walls to protect property.

Cheveron—In heraldry, a charge resembling an inverted V; per cheveron is applied to a field or charge divided cheveronwise with a difference of tincture on either side. In architecture, a decorative form similar to the foregoing and often used in a consecutive series.

Chief—In heraldry, a division occupying the upper part of the shield. A charge is said to be in chief when placed in the top third of a shield.

Chimaera—A fabulous monster with a lion's head, a goat's body and a serpent's tail.

Chip-carving—Architectural enrichment of sunk triangular form resembling chip-carved woodwork.

Choir-habit—In secular churches: for boys, a surplice only over the cassock; for clerks or vicars, the surplice and a black cope-like mantle, partly closed in front and put over the head, which was exchanged for a silk cope on festivals; canons put on a grey amess over the surplice. In monastic churches: for all classes, whether canons regular, monks, friars, nuns, or novices, the ordinary habit with a cope on festivals.

Cinquefoil—1. See Foil.

2. A heraldic flower of five petals.

Clearstorey—An upper storey, pierced by windows, in the main walls of a church. The same term is applicable in a domestic building.

Close—Enclosure. In earthworks, an area enclosed by banks.

Close-helmet—A helmet fitted with vizor etc., completely enclosing the head and face.

Cockatrice—In heraldry, usually drawn as a wyvern with a cock's head, but occasionally as a cock with a dragon's tail.

Coffers—Sunk panels in ceilings, vaults, domes and arch-soffits.

Coif—Small close hood, covering head only.

Collar-beam—In a roof, a horizontal beam framed to and serving to tie together a pair of rafters some distance above the wall-plate level.

Colonette—A small column.

Comb—The keel-shaped ridge on the top of a helmet.

Console—A bracket with a compound curved outline.

Cope—A processional and choir vestment shaped like a cloak, and fastened across the chest by a band or brooch; worn by clerks of most grades.

Coped Slab—A slab of which the upper face is ridged down the middle, sometimes hipped at each end.

Cops, Elbow—A modern term for elbow defences of leather or plate, see Couter. Knee-cops, in modern usage applied to the leather or plate defences of the knees at all dates, see Poleyn.

Corbel—A projecting stone or piece of timber for the support of a superincumbent weight. Corbel-table—A row of corbels, usually carved, and supporting a projection.

Cornice—A crowning projection. In Classical architecture, the crowning or upper portion of the entablature.

Corona—The square projection in the upper part of a Classical cornice with vertical face and wide soffit.

Cotises—In heraldry, pairs of narrow bands, in the form of bends, pales, fesses, or cheverons, and accompanying one of those charges, on each side of it.

Counter-changed—In heraldry, a term applied where the field and charges exchange tinctures on either side of a dividing line.

Couped—In heraldry, of a head or limb cut off with a straight edge. See also under Cross.

Courtyard Type of House—See Houses.

Couter—Elbow defence of leather or plate.

Cove—A concave under-surface of the nature of a hollow moulding but on a larger scale.

Cover-paten—A cover to a communion cup, used as a paten.

Crenelles—The openings in an embattled parapet.

Crest, Cresting—1. A device worn upon the helm or helmet.

2. An ornamental finish along the top of a screen etc.

Crockets—Carvings projecting at regular intervals from the vertical or sloping sides of parts of a building, such as spires, canopies, pinnacles, hood-moulds, etc.

Cronel—The crown-like head of a blunt tilting-lance.

Crop-mark—A trace of a levelled or buried feature revealed by different growth of crops, especially after drought.

Crosier, or Pastoral Staff—A tall staff ending in an ornamental crook carried as a mark of authority by archbishops, bishops, and heads of monastic houses, including abbesses and prioresses.

Cross—In its simplest form in heraldry, a pale combined with a fesse, as the St. George's Cross; of many other varieties the following are the most common: Couped—with the four arms not extending to the edge of the shield; Crosslet—with a smaller arm crossing each main arm; Fitchy—having the lowest arm spiked or pointed; Flowered or flory—having the arms headed with fleurs-de-lis; Formy—arms widening from the centre, and square at the ends; Moline (or mill-rind)—with the arms split or forked at the ends; Paty—as a cross formy, but with the arms notched in two places at the ends, giving them a form which may approach that of a blunt head of a fleur-de-lis; Pommy—with the arms ending in a ball like the pomme or pommel of a sword or walking-cane; Potent—having a small transverse arm at the extreme end of each main arm; Quadrate—with a small rectangular projection at each angle as though the crossing was surcharged with a square; Saltire (or St. Andrew's)—an X-shaped cross; Tau (or Anthony)—in the form of a T; Trefly—with the arms terminating in a trefoil.

Cross-staff—Staff terminating in a cross; carried before archbishops. On effigies, brasses, etc., the figures are usually shown holding it.

Cruck (or Crutch) Truss—See under Roofs.

Crusily—In heraldry, covered or powdered with crosslets.

Curtain—The connecting wall between the towers or bastions of a castle.

Cushion-capital—A capital cut from a cube with its lower angles rounded off to adapt it to a circular shaft.

Cusps (cusping, sub-cusps)—The projecting points forming the foils in Gothic windows, arches, panels, etc.; they were frequently ornamented at the ends (cusp-points) with leaves, flowers, berries, etc.

Cyma—A moulding with a wave-like outline consisting of two contrary curves.

Dado—The separate protective or decorative treatment applied to the lower parts of wall-surfaces to a height, normally, of 3 to 4 feet. Dado-rail, the moulding or capping at the top of the dado.

Dalmatic—The special vestment at mass of a deacon; a loose tunic of moderate length, slit up the sides, with wide sleeves and fringed edges.

Dance—In heraldry, a fesse or bar drawn zigzagwise, or dancetty.

Deacon's Vestments (Mass)—Amice, alb, stole (worn over left shoulder), dalmatic, and maniple.

Dentils—The small rectangular tooth-like blocks used decoratively in Classical cornices.

Dexter—In heraldry, the right-hand side of a shield as held.

Diaper—All-over decoration of surfaces with squares, diamonds, and other patterns.

Die—The part of a pedestal between the base and the cornice.

Dimidiated—In heraldry, applied to the halving of two shields vertically and joining a half of each to make a new shield.

Disc Barrow—See Barrow.

Dog-legged Staircase—See Staircases.

Dog-tooth Ornament—A typical 13th-century carved ornament consisting of a series of pyramidal flowers of four petals; used to cover hollow mouldings.

Dormer—A sleeping recess contrived as a projection from the slope of a roof and having a roof of its own, usually unlighted but occasionally with small lights in the cheeks.

Dormer-window—A vertical window on the slope of a roof and having a roof of its own.

Dorter—A monastic dormitory.

Double-ogee—See Ogee.

Dovetail—A carpenter's joint for two boards, one with a series of projecting pieces resembling doves' tails fitting into the other with similar hollows; in heraldry, an edge formed like a dovetailjoint.

Drawbar—A wooden bar or bolt, inside a door, fitted into a socket in one jamb and a long channel in the other jamb, into which it slides back when not in use.

Dressings—The stone or brickwork used about an angle, window, or other feature when worked to a finished face, whether smooth, tooled or rubbed, moulded, or sculptured.

E Type of House—See Houses.

Eaves—The under part of a sloping roof overhanging a wall.

Embattled—In architecture, a parapet with merlons separated by embrasures or crenelles. In heraldry, having an outline like a battlement.

Embrasures—The openings or sinkings in embattled parapets, or the recesses for windows, doorways, etc.

Engrailed—In heraldry, edged with a series of concave curves.

Entablature—In Classical or Renaissance architecture, the moulded horizontal superstructure of a wall, colonnade or opening. A full entablature consists of an architrave, frieze, and cornice.

Entasis—The convexity or swell on a vertical line or surface, to correct the optical illusion of concavity in the sides of a column or spire when the lines are straight.

Erased—In heraldry, a head or limb torn off, leaving a jagged edge.

Ermine—The fur most frequently represented in heraldry; white powdered with black tails. Ermines—black powdered with white tails.

Escarbuncle—In heraldry, an ornamental elaboration of the metal reinforcement of a shield, drawn as eight batons tipped with fleurs-de-lis radiating from a central boss.

Escutcheon—See Scutcheon.

Estoile—In heraldry, a star-like charge with wavy rays. Unless otherwise described it has six points.

Fan-vaulting—See Vaulting.

Fascia—A plain or moulded facing board.

Fesse—In heraldry, a broad horizontal band across the shield. Where more than one fesse is borne they are known as Bars. Per fesse— applied to the field or to a charge divided fessewise with a difference of tincture on either side.

Fimbriated—In heraldry, applied to a bend, cheveron, etc., with a narrow border of a different tincture.

Finial—A formal bunch of foliage or similar ornament at the top of a pinnacle, gable, canopy, etc.

Fitchy—See Cross.

Flanch or Flaunch—In heraldry, the segmental area formed at the sides of a shield by curved lines drawn from the corner of the chief to near the base.

Flory—In heraldry, applied to a field or charge powdered with fleurs-de-lis. See also under Cross.

Foil (trefoil, quatrefoil, cinquefoil, multifoil, etc.)—A leaf-shaped space defined by the curves formed by the cusping in an opening or panel.

Foliated (of a capital, corbel, etc.)—Carved with leaf ornament.

Four-centred Arch—See Arch.

Frater—The refectory or dining-hall of a monastery.

Fret—In modern heraldry, a charge formed of a voided lozenge interlaced with two narrow pieces in saltire. Fretty—applied to a field or charge covered with three or more narrow bends and as many bends sinister interlaced in a lattice pattern.

Frieze—The middle division in an entablature, between the architrave and the cornice; generally any band of ornament or colour immediately below a cornice.

Funeral-armour—See under Achievements.

Fusil—In heraldry, an elongated lozenge.

Gable—The wall at the end of a ridged roof, generally triangular, sometimes semicircular, and often with an outline of various curves, then called curvilinear or Dutch. A stepped gable has an outline formed of a series of steps.

Gadrooned—Enriched with a series of convex ridges, the converse of fluting, and forming an ornamental edge or band.

Garb—In heraldry, a sheaf, usually of wheat.

Garderobe—Wardrobe. Antiquarian usage applies it to a latrine or privy chamber.

Gargoyle—A carved projecting figure pierced or channelled to carry off the rain-water from the roof of a building.

Gauging—In brickwork, bringing every brick exactly to a certain form by cutting and rubbing. Specially made soft bricks are used for the purpose.

Gemel-bar—In heraldry, a pair of narrow bars lying close to one another.

Gnomon—The rod of a sundial, showing the time by its shadow.

Gobony—In heraldry, applied to a border or charge made up of a row of segments of alternating tinctures. Counter-gobony is used for two such rows.

Gorget—The plate-armour protecting the neck.

Griffin—In heraldry, a winged monster with the fore parts of an eagle and the hinder parts of a lion.

Grisaille—Painting, decorative or on glass, in greyish tints.

Groining, Groined Vault—See Vaulting.

Guiges—Suspension straps of a shield.

Guilloche-pattern—In Classical or Renaissance architecture, a geometrical ornament consisting of two or more intertwining wavy bands forming a series of circles.

Gules—In heraldry, red.

Guttae—Small stud-like projections under the triglyphs and mutules of the Doric entablature.

Gutty—In heraldry, applied to a field or charge shown as though sprinkled with drops of liquid.

Gyronny—In heraldry, applied to a field divided into eight triangular segments by two lines drawn quarterly and two drawn saltirewise.

H and Half-H Types of House—See Houses.

Hall—The principal room of a mediaeval house, often open to the roof. Also the Dining-room of a College.

Hall and Cellar Type of House—See Houses.

Hammer-beams—Horizontal brackets of a roof projecting at the wall-plate level, and resembling the two ends of a tie-beam with its middle part cut away; they are supported by braces, and help to diminish lateral pressure by reducing the span. Sometimes there is a second and even a third upper series of these brackets.

Hatchment—Now used for the square or lozenge-shaped tablet displaying the armorial bearings, usually painted, of a deceased person, first hung outside his house and then laid up in the church.

Hauberk—Shirt of mail.

Haurient—In heraldry, applied to a fish represented standing on its tail.

Helm—Complete barrel or dome-shaped head-defence of plate. No longer used in warfare after the middle of the 14th century; it continued in use in the tilt-yard into the 16th century.

Helmet—A light head-piece. See Armet, Burgonet, Close-helmet, Pot, Sallet.

Hexastyle—A portico having six columns.

Hipped Roof—A roof with sloped instead of vertical ends. Half-hipped, a roof whose ends are partly vertical and partly sloped.

Hood-mould (label, drip-stone)—A projecting moulding on the face of a wall above an arch, doorway, or window; it may follow the form of the arch or be square in outline.

Horse-barnacle—In heraldry, the nose pincers used by farriers to curb a horse.

Houses—These are classified as far as possible under the following heads:—

1. Hall and Cellar Type—Hall on first floor; rooms beneath generally vaulted; examples as early as the 12th century.

2. H Type—Hall between projecting wings, one containing livingrooms, the other the offices; the usual form of a mediaeval house, employed, with variations, down to the 17th century.

3. L Type—Hall and one wing, generally for small houses.

4. E Type—Hall with two wings and a middle porch; generally of the 16th and 17th centuries.

5. Half-H Type—A variation of the E type without the middle porch.

6. Courtyard Type—House built round a court, sometimes only three ranges of buildings with or without an enclosing wall and gateway on the fourth side.

7. Central-chimney Type—Rectangular plan, in small houses only.

Impaled—In heraldry, applied to the marshalling side by side on one shield of the arms of a husband and wife, or of a dignity and its holder.

Impost—The projection, often moulded, at the springing of an arch, upon which the arch appears to rest.

Indent—The sinking in a slab for a monumental brass.

Indented—In heraldry, notched like the teeth of a saw.

Infulae—The tasselled labels or strings of a mitre.

Intaglio—A design cut into any substance leaving the pattern sunk below the surface of the material.

Invected—In heraldry, edged with a series of convex curves.

Jambs—1. The sides of an archway, doorway, window, or other opening.

2. In heraldry, legs of lions etc.

3. In armour, (greaves) plate-defences for the legs below the knees.

Jessant-de-lis—In heraldry, applied to a leopard's face with a fleur-de-lis issuing from the mouth.

Jetty—The projection of the upper storey of a building beyond the plane of a lower storey.

Joggling—The method of cutting the adjoining faces of the voussoirs of an arch with rebated, zigzagged or wavy surfaces to provide a better key.

Jupon—Close-fitting surcoat, worn over armour c. 1350 to c. 1410; sometimes called a gipon.

Keystone—The middle stone in an arch.

King-post—The middle vertical post in a roof-truss. See under Roofs.

Kneeler—The stone at the foot of a gable.

L Type of House—See Houses.

Label—See Hood-mould. In heraldry, a narrow horizontal strip (fillet) across the upper part of the shield from which hang broader oblong tags (points or pendants); unless otherwise specified the points are three in number. Later it was often cut short at each end and the pendants were dovetail-shaped instead of rectangular.

Lancet—A long, narrow window with a pointed head, typical of the 13th century.

Langued—In heraldry, applied to the tongue of a beast when of a different tincture from the body.

Lenten Veil—A hanging suspended before the altar during Lent and taken down on the Wednesday or Thursday before Easter.

Lierne-vault—See Vaulting.

Linen-fold Panelling—Panelling ornamented with a conventional representation of folded linen.

Lintel—The horizontal beam or stone bridging an opening.

Lion—In heraldry, shown with the face in profile and (unless otherwise blazoned) always rampant.

Locker—A small cupboard formed in a wall. See also Aumbry.

Loop—A small narrow light, often unglazed.

Louvre—A lantern-like structure surmounting the roof of a hall or other building, with openings, for ventilation or the escape of smoke, usually crossed by sloping slats (called louvre-boards) to exclude rain. Louvre-boards are also used in church belfries, instead of glazing, to allow the bells to be heard.

Lozenge—In heraldry, a charge like the diamond in a pack of cards.

Luce—In heraldry, a fish (pike).

Lynchets—Indications of cultivation-terraces on hillsides.

Mandorla—A glory in the form of an oval surround. Also Vesica Piscis (q.v.).

Maniple—A strip of embroidery, probably at one time a handkerchief or napkin, held in the left hand, or worn hanging from the left wrist by bishops, priests, and deacons.

Mannerist—A use of the repertory of revived antique forms in an arbitrary way.

Mansard—See under Roofs.

Mantiger—In heraldry, a monster with the face of a man and the body of a tiger.

Mantle or Mantling—In heraldry, a cloth hung over the hinder part of the helm; the edges were often fantastically dagged and slit.

Martlet—A bird, always shown in heraldry without feet.

Mask-stop—See under Stops.

Mass Vestments—These included the amice, alb, and girdle (which were worn by all clerks), to which a sub-deacon added the tunicle and maniple, a deacon the dalmatic, maniple, and stole (over one shoulder only), and the priest the maniple, stole (over both shoulders), and chasuble. Bishops and certain privileged abbots wore the tunicle and dalmatic under the chasuble, with the mitre, gloves, and ring, and buskins and sandals. Archbishops used the pall in addition to all the foregoing. Bishops, abbots, and archbishops alike carried crosiers, and in the same way, but an archbishop had likewise a cross carried before him for dignity, and he is generally represented holding one for distinction. The mass vestments were sometimes worn over the choir-habit, and the hood of the grey amess may often be seen on effigies hanging beyond the amice apparel at the back of the neck.

Maunch—In heraldry, an old-fashioned sleeve with long hanging end.

Merlon—The solid part of an embattled parapet between the embrasures.

Metopes—The panels, often carved, filling the spaces between the triglyphs of the Doric entablature.

Mill-rind (Fer-de-moline)—The iron affixed to the centre of a millstone. A common heraldic charge; in early heraldry, the name given to the cross of this form, or cross moline.

Minim—An unofficial Roman coin of very small size.

Misericorde—1. A bracket, often elaborately carved, on the underside of the hinged seat of a choir-stall. When the seat is turned up the bracket comes into position to support the occupant during long periods of standing.

2. In monastic planning, a small hall, generally attached to the Infirmary, in which meat and better food than the ordinary was supplied for special reasons.

Mitred Abbot's Vestments—Similar to a bishop's.

Modillions—Brackets under the cornice in Classical architecture.

Morse—Large clasp or brooch fastening the cope across the breast.

Motte—In earthworks, a steep mound, flat-topped, forming the main feature of an 11th or 12th-century castle; originally often surmounted by a timber tower; associated with a Bailey (q.v.).

Mullet—In heraldry, a star-like charge with straight points. Unless otherwise described it has five points.

Mullion—A vertical post, standard, or upright dividing an opening into lights.

Muntin—In panelling, an intermediate upright, butting into or stopping against the rails.

Mutules—Shallow blocks under the corona of the cornice in Classical architecture.

Naiant—In heraldry, applied to a fish represented swimming.

Nail-head—Architectural enrichment of small pyramidal form used extensively in 12th-century work.

Nebuly—In heraldry, applied to an exaggeratedly wavy outline.

Necking or Neck-moulding—The narrow moulding round the bottom of a capital.

Newel—The central post in a circular or winding staircase; also the principal posts at the angles of a dog-legged or well-staircase.

Nodding Arch—See under Arch.

Octastyle—A portico having eight columns.

Ogee—A compound curve of two parts, one convex, the other concave; a double-ogee moulding is formed by two ogees meeting at their convex ends.

Or—In heraldry, gold.

Orders of Arches—Receding concentric rings of voussoirs.

Orders of Architecture—In Classical or Renaissance architecture, the five systems of columnar architecture, known as Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. Colossal Order, one in which the columns or pilasters embrace more than one storey of the building.

Oriel-window—A projecting bay-window carried upon corbels or brackets. In Colleges and great houses a special usage is for the large projecting windows generally lighting the Hall dais.

Orle—In heraldry, a term used to describe a voided scutcheon, or a number of small charges arranged in this form.

Orphreys—Strips of embroidery on vestments.

Oversailing Course—A brick or stone course projecting beyond the one below it.

Ovolo Moulding—A Classical moulding forming a quarter round or semi-ellipse in section.

Pale—In heraldry, a vertical band down the middle of a shield. If more than one, they are called Pallets. Per pale—applied to the field or to a charge divided palewise with a difference of tincture on either side.

Palimpsest—1. Of a brass; reused by engraving the back of an older engraved plate.

2. Of a wall-painting; superimposed on an earlier painting.

Pall—1. In ecclesiastical vestments, a narrow strip of lambswool, having an open loop in the middle, and weighted ends; it is ornamented with a number of crosses and forms the distinctive mark of an archbishop; it is worn round the neck, above the other vestments.

2. A cloth covering a hearse.

Palladian Window—A three-light window with a tall round-headed middle light and shorter lights on either side, the side lights with flanking pilasters and small entablatures forming the imposts to the arch over the centre light.

Paly—In heraldry, a shield divided by lines palewise, normally into six divisions, unless otherwise blazoned.

Parlour—In a monastery, a passage-way, usually through the east range of the cloister; the talking place. The principal private room in 15th-century and later houses.

Passant—In heraldry, of beasts, etc., walking and looking forward with head in profile. Passant gardant—with head turned to the onlooker. Passant regardant—looking backwards.

Pastoral Staff—See Crosier.

Paten—A plate for holding the Bread at the celebration of the Holy Communion.

Patera-ae—A flat ornament applied to a frieze, moulding, or cornice; in Gothic work it commonly takes the form of a four-lobed leaf or flower.

Paty—See Cross.

Pediment—A low-pitched gable used in Classical and Renaissance architecture above a portico, at the end of a building, or above doors, windows, niches, etc.; sometimes the gable angle is omitted, forming a broken pediment, or the horizontal members are omitted, forming an open pediment. A curved gable-form is sometimes used in this way.

Pelican in Piety—A pelican shown, according to the mediaeval legend, feeding her young upon the drops of blood she pecks from her breast.

Pheon—In heraldry, the barbed head of an arrow or dart.

Pilaster—A shallow pier of rectangular section attached to the wall.

Pile—In heraldry, a wedge-shaped charge issuing from the chief of a shield and tapering to the base.

Piscina—A basin for washing the sacred vessels and provided with a drain, generally set in or against the wall to the S. of the altar, but sometimes sunk in the pavement.

Plat-band—A flat projecting horizontal band of masonry or brickwork across the face of a building, as distinct from a moulded string.

Plinth—The projecting base of a wall or column, generally chamfered or moulded at the top.

Podium—In Classical architecture, a basis, usually solid, supporting a temple or other superstructure.

Poleyn—Knee defence of leather or plate.

Poppy-head—The ornament at the heads of bench-standards or desks in churches; generally carved with foliage and flowers, somewhat resembling a fleur-de-lis.

Portcullis—A movable gate, rising and falling in vertical groves in the jambs of a doorway.

Portico—A covered entrance to a building, colonnaded, either constituting the whole front of the building or forming an important feature.

Pot—Colloquial term for an open helmet in the 17th century.

Powdered or Semy—In heraldry, strewn with an indefinite number of small charges.

Presbytery—The part of a church in which is placed the high altar, E. of the choir.

Pretence—In heraldry, a scutcheon 'of pretence' or 'in pretence' is a scutcheon bearing the wife's arms placed by the husband of an heiress upon the centre of his own shield.

Priest's Vestments (Mass)—Amice, alb, girdle, stole crossed in front, maniple, chasuble.

Principals—The main as opposed to the common rafters of a roof.

Processional Vestments—The same as canonical (q.v.).

Proper—In heraldry, of the natural colour.

Pulpitum—A screen in a monastic church, dividing the monastic choir from the nave.

Pulvinated Frieze—In Classical and Renaissance architecture, a frieze having a convex or bulging section.

Purlin—In roof construction, a horizontal timber resting on the principal rafters of a truss, and forming an intermediate support for the common rafters. For Collar-purlin, see King-post under Roofs.

Quarry—In glazing, small panes of glass, generally diamond-shaped or square set diagonally.

Quartered or Quarterly—In heraldry, applied (1) to a field divided chequerwise into four quarters, those diagonally opposite to each other having the same tinctures; (2) to four or more coats of arms marshalled chequerwise on one shield. When there are more than four quarters the number is specified.

Quatrefoil—In heraldry, a four-petalled flower. See also Foil.

Queen-posts—A pair of vertical posts in a roof-truss equidistant from the centre line of the roof. See also under Roofs.

Quoins—The dressed stones at the angle of a building, or distinctive brickwork in this position.

Rafters—Inclined timbers supporting a roof-covering. See also under Roofs.

Ragged, Raguly—In heraldry, applied to a charge whose edges are ragged like a tree trunk with the limbs lopped away.

Rail—A horizontal member in the framing of a door, screen, or panel.

Rampant—In heraldry, of beasts etc., standing erect, as if attacking or defending.

Rear-arch—The arch on the inside of a wall spanning a doorway or window-opening.

Rebate—A continuous rectangular notch cut on an edge.

Reels—Ornament resembling a line of bobbins, used in Classical architecture.

Reliquary—A small box or other receptacle for relics.

Rere-dorter—A monastic latrine.

Reredos—A screen of stone or wood at the back of an altar, usually enriched.

Responds—The half-columns or piers at the ends of an arcade or abutting a single arch.

Reveal—The internal side surface of a recess, especially of a doorway or window opening.

Ridge (or Rig) and Furrow—Remains of old cultivations.

Ridge-roof—See King-post and Ridge under Roofs.

Riser—The vertical piece connecting two treads in a flight of stairs.

Rococo—The latest (18th-century) phase of Baroque, especially in Northern Europe, in which effects of elegance and vivacity are obtained by the use of a decorative repertory further removed from antique architectural forms than the earlier phases and often asymmetrically disposed.

Roll-moulding or Bowtell—A continuous prominent convex moulding

Rood (Rood-beam, Rood-screen, Rood-loft)—A cross or crucifix. The Great Rood was set up at the E. end of the nave with accompanying figures of St. Mary and St. John; it was generally carved in wood, and fixed on the loft or head of the rood-screen, or on a special beam (the Rood-beam) reaching from wall to wall. Sometimes the rood was merely painted on the wall above the chancel-arch or on a closed wood partition or tympanum in the upper half of the arch. The Rood-screen is the open screen spanning the E. end of the nave, shutting off the chancel; in the 15th century a narrow gallery was often constructed above the cornice to carry the rood and other images and candles, and it was also used as a musicgallery. The loft was approached by a staircase (and occasionally by more than one), either of wood or built in the wall, wherever most convenient, and, when the loft was carried right across an aisled building, the intervening walls of the nave were often pierced with narrow archways. Many of the roods were destroyed at the Reformation, and their final removal, with the loft, was ordered in 1561.

Roofs—Collar-beam—a principal-rafter roof with collar-beams connecting the principals.

Cruck (or Crutch)—having a truss with principals springing from below the level of the wall-plate. The timbers are usually curved but examples with straight timbers are recorded.

Hammer-beam—hammer-beams instead of tie-beams, braced from a level below the wall-plates, form the basis of construction.

King-post and Collar-purlin—a trussed-rafter roof with king-posts standing on tie-beams to carry a centre purlin supporting collars.

King-post and Ridge—in which king-posts standing on tie-beams or collar-beams directly support the ridge.

Mansard—characterised in exterior appearance by two pitches, the lower steeper than the upper.

Principal-rafter—with rafters at intervals of greater scantling than the common rafters and framed to form trusses; normally called by the name of the connecting member used in the truss, tie-beam or collar-beam. Later, as opposed to mediaeval, roofs of this kind often have queen-posts.

Queen-post—with two vertical or nearly vertical posts (queen-posts) standing on the tie-beam of a truss and supporting a collar-beam or the principal rafters.

Scissors-truss—as Trussed-rafter, but with crossed braces instead of collars.

Tie-beam—a principal-rafter roof with a simple triangulation of a horizontal beam linking the lower ends of the pairs of principals to prevent their spread.

Trussed-rafter—in which each pair of common rafters, all the timbers in the slopes being common rafters of uniform size, is connected by a collar-beam, which is often braced. At intervals pairs of rafters may be tenoned into a tie-beam.

Wagon—a trussed-rafter roof with curved braces forming a semicircular arch springing from wall-plate level.

Roping—Ornament resembling a rope or cable.

Roundel—A circular unit of decorative or figure composition. In heraldry, a round plate or disc of any tincture; a gold roundel is called a Bezant.

Rubble—Walling of rough unsquared stones or flints. Coursed Rubble —rubble walling with the stones or flints very roughly dressed and levelled up in courses some 12 to 18 inches in height; in Regular Coursed Rubble the stones or flints are laid in separate courses and kept to a uniform height in each course.

Rupilation—See Rustication.

Rustication—Primarily, masonry in which only the margins of the stones are worked, also used for any masonry where the joints are emphasised by mouldings, grooves, etc.; rusticated columns are those in which the shafts are interrupted by square blocks of stone or broad projecting bands. Rupilation—Masonry faced to resemble a waterworn rock surface.

Sable—In heraldry, black.

Sacristy—A room generally in immediate connection with a church, in which the holy vessels and other valuables are kept.

Salient—In heraldry, applied to a beast in a leaping position.

Sallet—A light helmet. The form varied but, in English representations, it is usually characterised by a short tail. Often fitted with a vizor and worn in conjunction with a beaver.

Saltire—In heraldry, an X-shaped cross. Per saltire—applied to the field or to a charge with alternating tinctures in the four parts formed by two lines drawn saltirewise across it.

Samian Ware—A common table ware of the Roman period, mostly of Gaulish origin, with a glossy surface, generally red in colour. Also known as terra sigillata.

Scalloped Capital—A development of the cushion-capital in which the single cushion is elaborated into a series of truncated cones.

Scarp—In earthworks, an artificial cutting away of the ground to form a steeper slope.

Screen—In College chapels, the wooden partition separating the main compartment from the Antechapel. In secular buildings, that separating the main space of a hall from the service end. Screenspassage, the space at the service end of a hall between the screen and the end wall; Screens is sometimes used to describe the whole arrangement of screen and screens-passage. See also under Rood.

Scutcheon or Escutcheon—1. A shield; a charge in heraldry. Voided Scutcheon, a scutcheon that has had the middle part cut away leaving only a border.

2. A metal plate pierced for the spindle of a handle or for a keyhole.

Sedilia (sing. sedile, a seat)—The seats on the S. side of the chancel, choir, or chapel near the altar, used by the ministers during the Mass.

Segreant—In heraldry, applied to a griffin when rampant.

Semy—In heraldry, applied to a field or charge powdered or strewn with small charges.

Sexpartite Vault—See Vaulting.

Shaft—A slender column.

Shafted Jambs—Jambs containing one or more shafts either engaged or detached.

Sherd—A scrap or broken piece of pottery.

Sill—The lower horizontal member of a window or door-frame; the stone, tile or wood base below a window or door-frame, usually with a weathered surface projecting beyond the wall-face to throw off water. In timber-framed walls, the lower horizontal member into which the studs are tenoned.

Sinister—In heraldry, the left-hand side of a shield as held.

Slip-tiles—Tiles moulded with a design in intaglio which was then filled in, before burning, with a clay of a different colour.

Soffit—The under-side of an arch, staircase, lintel, cornice, canopy, etc.

Soffit-cusps—Cusps springing from the flat soffit of an arched head, and not from its chamfered sides or edges.

Soil-mark—A trace of a levelled or buried feature revealed by differences in colour or texture of the soil, usually in ploughed land.

Spandrel—The space between the outside curve of an arch and the surrounding rectangular framework or moulding, or the space between the outside curves of two adjoining arches and a moulding above.

Spire, Broach-spire, Needle-spire—The tall pointed termination covered with lead or shingles forming the roof of a tower or turret. A Broach-spire rises from the sides of a tower generally without parapets, the angles of the tower being surmounted by half-pyramids (broaches) against the facets of the spire to effect the change from the square to the polygon. A Needle-spire is small and narrow, and rises from the middle of the tower-roof well within the parapet.

Splay—A sloping face making an angle of more than a right angle with another face, as in internal window-jambs etc.

Springing-line—The level at which an arch springs from its supports.

Spurs—Prick—in the form of a plain goad, an early type.

Rowel—with spiked wheel, came into general use about 1325.

Squinch—An arch thrown across the angle between two walls to support a superstructure, such as the base of a stone spire.

Squint—A piercing through a wall to allow a view of an altar from places whence it could otherwise not be seen.

Stages—The divisions (e.g. of a tower) marked by horizontal stringcourses externally.

Staircases—A close-string staircase is one having a raking member into which the treads and risers are housed. An open-string staircase has the raking member cut to the shape of the treads and risers. A dog-legged staircase has adjoining flights running in opposite directions with a common newel. A well-staircase has stairs rising round a central opening more or less as wide as it is long.

Stanchion—The upright iron bars in a screen, window, etc.

Stole—A long, narrow strip of embroidery with fringed ends worn above the alb by a deacon over the left shoulder, and by priests and bishops over both shoulders.

Stops—Blocks terminating mouldings or chamfers in stone or wood; stones at the ends of labels, string-courses, etc., against which the mouldings finish, frequently carved to represent shields, foliage, human or grotesque masks; also, plain or decorative, used at the ends of a moulding or a chamfer to form the transition thence to the square.

Stoup—A receptacle, normally by the doorway of a church, to contain holy water; those remaining are usually in the form of a deeply-dished stone set in a niche, or on a pillar.

String or String-course—A projecting horizontal band in a wall, usually moulded.

Strut—A timber forming a sloping support to a beam etc.

Studs—The common posts or uprights in timber-framed walls.

Style—The vertical members of a frame into which are tenoned the ends of the rails or horizontal pieces.

Stylobate—The podium or architectural base of a temple or other Classical building.

Sub-deacon's Vestments (Mass)—Amice, alb, tunicle, maniple.

Surcoat—Coat, usually sleeveless, worn over armour.

Surplice—A white linen vestment with wide hanging sleeves.

Swag—An ornament; a festoon suspended from both ends and carved to represent cloth or flowers and fruit.

Tabard—Short loose surcoat, open at the sides, with short tab-like sleeves, sometimes worn with armour, and painted or embroidered with arms; distinctive garment of a herald.

Talbot—In heraldry, a hound with drooping ears.

Tas-de-charge—The lower courses of a vault or arch, laid in horizontal courses and bonded into the wall, forming a solid mass; as they project forward they lessen the span.

Terminal Figure—The upper part of a carved human figure growing out of a column, post, or pilaster diminishing to the base.

Tessera-ae—A small cube of stone, glass, or marble, used in mosaic.

Tetrastyle—A portico having four columns.

Thumb-gauging—An ornamental top-edge to a ridge-tile, made with the thumb before the tile is baked.

Tie-beam—The horizontal transverse beam in a roof, tying together the feet of pairs of rafters to counteract thrust.

Tierced in Pale—In heraldry, a division of the shield into three vertical pieces. Tierced per pale and cheveron, division of the shield into three pieces, the two uppermost per pale and the lowest per cheveron.

Timber-framed Building—A building of which the walls are built of open timbers and the interstices filled in with brickwork or lath and plaster ('wattle and daub'), the whole often covered with plaster or boarding.

Tincture—In heraldry, the generic name for the colours, metals and furs used on coats-of-arms.

Tooling—Dressing or finishing a masonry surface with an axe or other tool, usually in parallel lines. (A change from diagonal tooling to vertical has been noted at Wells Cathedral c. 1210 (Arch. Jour. LXXXV).)

Toothing—See Tusking.

Torse—In heraldry, the wreathed ring upon which the crest is placed; often shown as a short stiff rod of two tinctures twisted together.

Torus—In Classical architecture, a convex moulding, generally a semicircle in section.

Touch—A soft black marble, quarried near Tournai and used in monumental art.

Trabeation—The use of horizontal beams in building construction; descriptive in the Inventory of conspicuous cased ceiling-beams.

Tracery—The ornamental work in the head of a window, screen, panel, etc., formed by the curving and interlacing of bars of stone or wood, grouped together, generally over two or more lights or bays.

Transom—An intermediate horizontal bar of stone or wood across a window-opening.

Tread—The horizontal platform of a step or stair.

Trefoil—In heraldry, a three-lobed leaf with a pendent stalk.

Trellis, Treillage—Lattice-work of light wood or metal bars.

Tressure—In heraldry, a narrow band formed by a voided scutcheon. A double tressure, two such charges one within the other. Tressure flory, with fleurs-de-lis issuing from the outer band. Tressure flory and counter flory, with fleurs-de-lis issuing from the outer and inner bands.

Tribune—See Triforium.

Triforium—In the larger churches, an arcaded wall-passage at about mid wall height, between the aisle arcades and the clearstorey. A large gallery the full width of the aisle below is termed a Tribune.

Triglyphs—Blocks with vertical channels, placed at intervals along the frieze of the Doric entablature.

Truss—A number of timbers framed together to bridge a space, to be self-supporting, and to carry other timbers. The trusses of a roof are generally named after a peculiar feature in their construction, such as King-post, Queen-post, Hammer-beam, Crutch; see under Roofs.

Tufa (Calcareous)—Spongy deposit formed by the action of water on limestone and resembling volcanic lava. Often used in vaulting on account of its lightness.

Tusking—Bricks or stones in alternate courses left projecting beyond the wall-face of a building to facilitate the bonding in of an extension. Also Toothing.

Tympanum—The triangular or semicircular field in the face of a pediment or in the head of an arch.

Vair—In heraldry, a pattern imitating grey squirrels' skins, usually shown as an alternating series, often in rows, of blue and white bell-shaped patches. If of other tinctures it is called vairy.

Vaulting—An arched ceiling or roof of stone or brick, sometimes imitated in wood and plaster. Barrel-vaulting is a continuous vault unbroken in its length by cross-vaults. A groined vault (or cross-vaulting) results from the intersection of simple vaulting surfaces. A ribbed vault is a framework of arched ribs carrying the cells that cover in the spaces between them. One bay of vaulting, divided into four quarters or compartments, is termed quadripartite; but often the bay is divided longitudinally into two subsidiary bays, each equalling a bay of the wall-supports; the vaulting bay is thus divided into six compartments, and is termed sexpartite. Increased elaboration is given by tiercerons, secondary ribs springing from the wall-supports and rising to a point other than the centre, and liernes, tertiary ribs that do not spring from the wall-supports, but cross from main rib to main rib. In fan-vaulting numerous ribs rise from the springing in equal curves, diverging equally in all directions, giving fan-like effects when seen from below.

Venetian Window—See Palladian.

Ventail—See Vizor.

Vert—In heraldry, green.

Vesica Piscis—A pointed oval frame generally used in mediaeval art to enclose a figure of Christ enthroned. Also Mandorla (q.v.).

Vestments (Ecclesiastical)—See alb, amess, amice, apparels, archbishop's vestments, bishop's vestments, canonical choir-habit, cassock, chasuble, choir-habit, cope, crosier, cross-staff, dalmatic, deacon's vestments, maniple, mitred abbot's vestments, morse, orphreys, priest's vestments, processional vestments, stole, subdeacon's vestments, surplice.

Vexillum—A scarf on a pastoral staff.

Vice—A small circular stair.

Vizor—A defence for the eyes, sometimes for the whole face. The close-helmet of the 16th century was fitted with a vizor consisting of three separate plates: the vizor proper, the ventail or upper beaver covering the face, and the chin-piece or lower beaver.

Voided—In heraldry, a voided charge has the middle part cut away, leaving a margin.

Volute—An ornament in the form of a spiral scroll, e.g. in the Ionic capital.

Voussoirs—The stones forming an arch.

Wagon-roof—See under Roofs.

Wall-plate—A timber laid lengthwise on the wall to receive the ends of the rafters and other joists. In timber-framing, the studs are tenoned into it.

Water-bouget—See Bouget.

Wave-moulding—A compound moulding formed by a convex curve between two concave curves.

Weather-boarding—Horizontal boards nailed to the uprights of timber-framed buildings and made to overlap; the boards are generally wedge-shaped in section, the upper edge being the thinner.

Weathering (to sills, tops of buttresses, etc.)—A sloping surface for casting off water.

Weepers—Small upright figures, generally of relatives of the deceased, placed in niches or panels round the sides of mediaeval tombs; occasionally also represented on brasses.

Well-staircase—See Staircases.

Wimple—Scarf covering chin and throat.

Woodman or Woodhouse—A wild man of the woods, generally represented naked and hairy.

Wyvern—In heraldry, a two-legged dragon.

Yale—In heraldry, a composite animal resembling a spotted deer, with swivelling horns.