Finial
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finial
[′fin·ē·əl] (architecture)
An ornamental terminating or capping feature on an upper extremity, as over a door or on a pinnacle or gable.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Finial
A small, sometimes foliated ornament at the top of a spire, pinnacle or gable which acts as a terminal.
Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Finial
(also fleuron), in Gothic architecture, a decorative detail finishing off the tip of towers, decorative gables, end gables, and pinnacles. It is in the form of a stylized flower, with one or two pairs of horizontal cruciform branches arising from a central stalk. This motif is also used in the decorative and applied arts.
Finial
an ornamental pointed stone pyramid with which a pinnacle is usually crowned in Gothic architecture. Finials are generally decorated with crockets and topped with a fleuron.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
finial
An ornament which terminates the point of a spire, pinnacle, etc. Also see acroterion, crop, knob, 2, pineapple, pommel.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.