window (redirected from Glass window)

window, in architecture, the casement or sash, fitted with glass, which closes an opening in the wall of a structure without excluding light and air. It may have a square, round, or pointed head; may be single, double, or grouped; in relation to the wall, it may be flush, recessed, or projected. A projected window is called a bay window if polygonal, a bow window if semicircular, an oriel if it has corbeled brick or stone supports. A mullioned window is divided by slender bars into panes; when the bars radiate from the center of a circular bar it is called a wheel. It takes the name of rose window when adorned with stained glass or figure design. The long, narrow window of the English Perpendicular Gothic church is called a lancet; a lunette fills a somewhat crescent-shaped space under a vaulted intersection high upon a wall. A fanlight, characteristic of the American Colonial style, is either a semicircular transom, usually over an entrance, or a small attic window (or often a pair flanking the chimney). A French window reaches the floor and has double casements opening as doors; originating in France in the late Renaissance, it was adopted throughout the Continent and in the Southern states in America. The double-hung sashes (sliding up and down within the frame), first used in Renaissance England, attained wide popularity. In Spain windows are frequently ornate, with stone framework, an elaborate head, and a decorative iron grille. In Indian and Byzantine windows a pierced slab of marble or alabaster often substitutes for glass. Muslims also used cement frames in which colored glass was set in brilliant arabesque forms. Carved and turned wood grilles are found in Syria and Egypt. In China and Japan, rice paper, protected by a sliding wooden shutter, often takes the place of glass. Shell, also used in China, was employed by the Romans, as were thin panes of marble, mica, and horn. In modern architecture the use of windows has greatly increased in dwellings and in the exterior walls of factories and commercial buildings.

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window

Opening in the wall of a building for light and air, and sometimes for framing a view. Since early times, the openings have been filled with stone, wooden, or iron grilles, with panes of glass or other translucent material such as mica or, in East Asia, paper. A window in a vertically sliding frame is called a sash window: a single-hung sash has only one half that moves; in a double-hung sash, both parts slide. A casement window swings open on hinges attached to the upright side of the frame. Awning windows swing outward on hinges attached to the top of the frame; hopper windows swing inward on hinges attached to the bottom of the frame. Large, fixed (nonoperating) areas of glass are commonly called picture windows. A bay window (see oriel) is an exterior projection of a bay of a building that also forms an interior recess, providing better light and view than would a window flush with the building line. See also Diocletian window; rose window; shoji.

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(1) A time period. For example, a "window of opportunity" implies a favorable time.

(2) Sometimes refers to a reserved area of memory.

(3) A viewing area on screen that contains a surrounding frame (border). It is used to separate parts of an application from each other and to separate one application from another. Mostly rectangular, windows can also be round and multi-sided.

If there is more data than the window can hold at one time, the window contains a scroll bar that allows the user to reach the additional content. Windows were first used in the late 1960s at Stanford Research Laboratories (SRI). See dialog box, scroll bar, splash screen and GUI. See also Windows.

Application Windows

The Windows version of this Encyclopedia displays two scrollable windows from A to Z. The index is on the left, and the definitions are on the right. Each window is scrollable independently from the other.

Not Just Windows Windows

A window is a generic term for a viewing area, not just in the Windows operating system. This dialog for changing fonts is from a Mac.