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Glossary

Dado
The finishing (often with panelling) of the lower part of a wall, usually in a classical interior; in origin a formalized continuous pedestal. Dado rail: the moulding along the top of the dado.
Dagger
In tracery, an elongated ogee-ended lozenge shape.
Dais
A raised platform at one end of a medieval hall, where the lord or head of the household dined; also found in college or school halls, etc.
Dalle-de-verre
(French, lit. glass slab): A stained-glass technique invented in the mid- 20th century, setting large, thick pieces of cast glass into a frame of reinforced concrete or epoxy resin.
Decorated
Southwell Minster
A distinctive phase of English Gothic which developed at the end of the 13th century and continued into the later 14th; sometimes abbreviated to Dec. Named from its elaborate window tracery, which abandoned the simple circular forms of Geometric in favour of more varied patterns based on segments of circles. Dec tracery makes much use of ogee or reversed curves, which were combined in the 14th century to produce reticulated and flowing tracery composed of trefoils, quatrefoils and dagger shapes. Similar inventiveness is seen in the patterns produced by the lierne and tierceron vaults of the period, in the three-dimensional handling of wall surfaces broken up by canopy work and sculpture and in imaginative spatial planning making use of diagonal axes.
Demi-or half-column
St George's Hall, Liverpool
An engaged column half of whose circumference projects from the wall.
Dentil
Small square block used in series in classical cornices. Dentilation is produced by the projection of alternating headers, i.e. the short faces of bricks, along cornices or stringcourses.
Depressed arch
An arch with a rounded top, but curving inward more at the sides; also called a three-centred arch.
Diagonal buttress
A buttress set diagonally to the angle.
Diagonal rib
One of the main elements of a rib-vault, crossing diagonally and marking the main divisions (called cells).