Fascia

fascia

, facia

1. the flat surface above a shop window

2. Architect a flat band or surface, esp a part of an architrave or cornice

3. Anatomy fibrous connective tissue occurring in sheets beneath the surface of the skin and between muscles and groups of muscles

4. Biology a distinctive band of colour, as on an insect or plant

5. Brit a less common name for dashboard

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Fascia

A broad horizontal member or molding with nominal thickness, projecting from the wall.

Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

fascia

[′fā·shə]

(building construction)

A wide board fixed vertically on edge to the rafter ends or wall which carries the gutter around the eaves of a roof.

(histology)

Layers of areolar connective tissue under the skin and between muscles, nerves, and blood vessels.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

fascia, facia

1. Any flat horizontal member or molding with little projection, as the bands into which the architraves of Ionic and Corinthian entablatures are divided.

2. Any relatively narrow vertical surface (but broader than a fillet) which is projected or cantilevered or supported on columns or element other than a wall below. Also see platband.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Fascia

 

an architectural element in the form of a rectangular projection. Fasciae are seen at the base of columns and as part of cornices. They are not always only decorative elements. A fascia may be used to support the cross pieces forming the icon shelf of an iconostasis or to protect a wall from water seepage. In the latter case, the fascia usually slopes away from the wall, forming a stone drip.

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Fascia

 

the connective tissue investing organs, vessels, and nerves and forming the sheaths of muscles in man and other vertebrate animals; it performs supporting and trophic functions.

Superficial, or subcutaneous, fasciae are located under a fatty subcutaneous layer; in man, fasciae under the skin of the sole and the palm and under the scalp form aponeuroses. Deep fasciae invest individual muscles or muscle groups. Outgrowths of deep fasciae form intermuscular barriers, which may serve as points of muscle termination and attachment. In many parts of the body, especially in the extremities, the fascial system acts as a spring. When muscles contract, the fasciae shift their position, compressing or relaxing the neural and vascular sheaths, thus facilitating the flow of blood toward the heart. Some fasciae, such as the endothoracic fascia, line internal cavities. Fasciae are richly supplied with blood vessels and nerves.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.