The Collaborative International Dictionary
Perpendicular \Per`pen*dic"u*lar\, a. [L. perpendicularis, perpendicularius: cf. F. perpendiculaire. See Perpendicle, Pension.]
Exactly upright or vertical; pointing to the zenith; at right angles to the plane of the horizon; extending in a right line from any point toward the center of the earth.
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(Geom.) At right angles to a given line or surface; as, the line ad is perpendicular to the line bc.
Perpendicular style (Arch.), a name given to the latest variety of English Gothic architecture, which prevailed from the close of the 14th century to the early part of the 16th; -- probably so called from the vertical style of its window mullions.
WordNet
n. a Gothic style in 14th and 15th century England; characterized by vertical lines and a four-centered (Tudor) arch and fan vaulting [syn: perpendicular, English-Gothic, English-Gothic architecture]
Usage examples of "perpendicular style".
I thought it must be the epitome of that English Perpendicular style which our architects strove to emulate from drawings done by some of those who remembered.
And it was substantial, not a boxy little chapel with no graces and no beauty, but a good medieval church in the Perpendicular style with a square tower and a fine peal of bells, which were sounding as they drove up.