pediment
/ˈpɛdɪm(ə)nt
/noun
1The triangular upper part of the front of a classical building, typically surmounting a portico.The city was gloriously clean, its classical columns and pediments and its baroque scrolls and volutes now clearly delineated by the shadows cast by an oblique sun on their pale surfaces....
- The entablature and pediment of the portico are supported by two pairs of massive Ionic columns.
- A massive pediment with entablature is supported by four Roman Doric columns on granite bases.
1.1A triangular feature surmounting a door, window, or other part of a non-classical building.Next time you see a Venetian window, a triangular pediment, a coved gallery ceiling, or a Georgian terrace with lined stucco, remember who started it all....
- With an original oak floor, this area also features a carved oak ceiling rose, pediments, cornices and architraves.
- Like the great house, its windows were surmounted by alternating triangular and rounded pediments.
2 Geology A broad, gently sloping expanse of rock debris extending outwards from the foot of a mountain slope, especially in a desert.At the toe of the slope a rock pediment can be found.
Derivatives
pedimental
/ adjective ...- Bosses used for the attachment of plumb lines survive on the pedimental sculpture and reliefs of the temple of Zeus at Olympia.
pedimented
/ adjective ...- Built from whinstone, with a slate roof, the pedimented front door is a particularly handsome feature.
- He enlarged it, adding a third floor and two projecting pedimented Ionic pseudo-porticoes located to the east and west.
- It was built in a style that would not be out of place in Rome or Athens: the ruins had porticoed and pedimented fronts, and were supported by carved Corinthian pillars.
Origin
Late 16th century (as periment): perhaps an alteration of pyramid.
pyramid from Late Middle English:
The word pyramid was first used in English in the geometrical sense. It came via Latin from Greek puramis, which also meant a type of cake. This is taken by some to be the earlier sense, the geometrical sense arising from a resemblance in shape. An Egyptian origin is now generally rejected. Pediment (late 16th century) for the triangular upper part of a building was formerly written as periment and may be an alteration of pyramid.