Find the word definition

Crossword clues for entasis

The Collaborative International Dictionary
Entasis

Entasis \En"ta*sis\, n. [NL., from Gr. ? a stretching; fr. ?; ? in + ? to extend.]

  1. (Arch.) A slight convex swelling of the shaft of a column.

  2. (Med.) Same as Entasia.

Wiktionary
entasis

n. (context architecture English) A slight convex curvature introduced into the shaft of a column for aesthetic reasons, or to compensate for the illusion of concavity.

WordNet
entasis
  1. n. a slight convexity in the shaft of a column; compensates for the illusion of concavity that viewers experience when the sides are perfectly straight

  2. [also: entases (pl)]

Wikipedia
Entasis

In architecture, entasis is the application of a convex curve to a surface for aesthetic purposes. Its best-known use is in certain orders of Classical columns that curve slightly as their diameter is decreased from the bottom upwards.

Entasis (company)

Entasis is an award-winning Danish architecture firm based in Copenhagen. It takens its name from the Greek word for tension.

Usage examples of "entasis".

Time chafe away the memento mori quality that the ruins first seem to spell, acting as a temporal entasis and in the eye of the beholding.

The entasis of columns and curvature of what would ordinarily be straight lines is familiar to all students of architecture.

Everything about him was suddenly limned in an unnatural brightness, and the bole of the great tree was shrunken by a brilliant entasis that attacked from the north.