stalactiten.
/ˈstalaktʌɪt//stəˈlaktʌɪt/ 1.
a. An icicle-like formation of calcium carbonate, depending from the roof or sides of a cavern and produced by the dropping of waters which have percolated through, and partially dissolved, the overlying limestone.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > rock formations > [noun] > stiria > stalagmite or stalactite
round dropstone1668
stalactite1677
stalactites1681
stalagmite1681
water pipe1681
dropstone1695
icicle1695
watericle1776
stalagmite1815
frostwork1835
tallow1876
helictite1882
stalagma1903
1677 R. Plot Nat. Hist. Oxford-shire 96 Such are the stones made of nothing but such water, as it drops from the roofs and caverns of the Rocks, and therefore called Stalactites.
1789 A. Mills in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 80 93 Some calcareous stalactites pendent from the roof.
1793 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 84 405 In one of them rises a stalactite of uncommon bigness.
1820 P. B. Shelley Ode to Heaven in Prometheus Unbound 184 Like weak insects in a cave, Lighted up by stalactites.
1847 B. Disraeli Tancred III. v. v. 80 With pendents of daring grace hanging like stalactites from some sparry cavern.
1877 W. Black Green Pastures xxxvii. 295 They seem to be a stupendous semicircular wall of solid and motionless stalactites.
b. A similar formation of other material.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > rock formations > [noun] > stiria > stalagmite or stalactite > stalactite not formed from calcium carbonate
stalactite1801
1801 J. Barrow Acct. Trav. Interior S. Afr. 1797–8 I. 164 From the under surfaces of the..rotten sand-stone were suspended a great quantity of saline stalactites.
1802 G. Acerbi Trav. I. 44 All the rooms..were embellished by long stalactites of multifarious shapes..composed of the treacle and congealed water.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. xi. 77 A vertical precipice, from the coping of which vast stalactites of ice depended.
1890 E. S. Dana in J. D. Dana's Charac. Volcanoes 322 The delicate stalactites and stalagmites of lava which occur in the caverns.
1902 C. J. Cornish Naturalist on Thames 101 Stalactites of finest meal-dust hung from every nail..on the walls.
2. A general term for limestone found in this formation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > rock formations > [noun] > stiria > stalagmite or stalactite > any similar limestone formation
stalactite1794
1794 R. Kirwan Elements Mineral. (ed. 2) I. 88 Stalactite, alabaster, sinter.
1823 W. Buckland Reliq. Diluvianæ 10 The roof and sides were found to be partially studded and cased over with a coating of stalactite.
1839 H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornwall xiii. 413 More or less filled by loam, sand, or stalactite.
1908 Blackwood's Mag. July 102/1 White crusts of stalactite.
3. Architecture. (See quot. 1895.)
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > [noun] > ornamentation or decoration > an ornament > specific
moonc1385
crescent1399
Christmas1706
curly-wurlya1772
cake decoration?1847
stalactite1851
panoply1890
stalactite-work1902
sunburst1921
dabbity1923
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > architecture > architectural ornament > [noun] > pendants
pendant1506
honeycomb1838
honeycomb work1839
pendentive1845
pendanting1851
stalactite1851
wall-piece1860
stalactite-work1902
1851 W. Irving Alhambra (rev. ed.) 76 The lofty ceiling was originally of the same favorite material, with the usual frostwork and pensile ornaments or stalactites.
1895 I. K. Funk et al. Standard Dict. Eng. Lang. II. Stalactite... A downward-projecting ornament of a vaulted surface.
1931 C. Hill Moorish Towns in Spain 147 We stand amid a small labyrinth of columns, under a roof of stalactites in stone.
1974 Encycl. Brit. Micropædia IX. 517/1 A peculiar type of faceted, crystal-shaped stalactite is found in Turkey; this form became the most common Turkish capital decoration.
Compounds
C1. attributive and in other combinations.
ΚΠ
1855 J. Fergusson Illustr. Handbk. Archit. I. ix. v. 463 Instead of the simple curves of the dome, the roofs are made up of honeycombed or stalactite patterns, which look more like natural rock-work than the forms of an art.
1864 J. Hunt tr. C. Vogt Lect. on Man ix. 247 A stalactite roof.
1881–2 C. Bell tr. Ebers Egypt I. 227 The stalactite ornament, as it has been called—from a false idea that it was an imitation of those fantastical natural formations which [etc.].
1881–2 C. Bell tr. Ebers Egypt I. 228 Perso-Turkish Stalactite Capital [figured].
1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. IV. 798 Small stalactite~like projections.
1897 W. Millar Plastering 422 A stalactite-shaped cornice.
1897 W. Millar Plastering 425 Other mosques, palaces, and monuments with stalactite domes and cornices.
C2.
stalactite-work n. Architecture (see quot.).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > [noun] > ornamentation or decoration > an ornament > specific
moonc1385
crescent1399
Christmas1706
curly-wurlya1772
cake decoration?1847
stalactite1851
panoply1890
stalactite-work1902
sunburst1921
dabbity1923
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > architecture > architectural ornament > [noun] > pendants
pendant1506
honeycomb1838
honeycomb work1839
pendentive1845
pendanting1851
stalactite1851
wall-piece1860
stalactite-work1902
1902 R. Sturgis Dict. Archit. III. 612 Stalactite work, a system of corbelling of peculiar form or the imitation of such corbelling in wood and plaster.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1915; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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