Gothic arch
- noun
- /ˈɡɑːθɪk ɑːrtʃ/
- Specialized
:
arco gótico
- The main church door's Gothic arch frames the doorway.
Examples
-
Nothing existed except a tiny brush, the shimmer of color, and the Gothic arch of each nail.
Fiction book (1990) -
Larry had already gone in through two green doors forming a Gothic arch.
Academic text (2009) -
So what I did is I found these really cool gothic arch frame mirrors at Hobby Lobby.
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This is the Gothic arch, can't remember, it's from Gardner's supply.
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That's an image of what the modern promises for Crane, and indeed those Gothic arches of the bridge seem to emblematize for him.
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The canopy work above the tomb is removed altogether and replaced with a repetitious frieze of Gothic arches to make space for a main image above the mantel, and the tomb is replaced by the fireplace.
Academic text (2013) -
The main church door's Gothic arch frames the doorway beautifully.
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Larry had already gone in through two green doors forming a Gothic arch.
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The Gothic arch is a defining feature of medieval cathedrals.
Synonyms
41
3.5
A curved structure that spans an opening and supports weight
1
6.8
An arch with a pointed top used in old churches in Europe
How Pointed
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning of 'Gothic arch' is directly compositional: a B1 learner who knows 'Gothic' as an architectural style (noted for pointed arches) and 'arch' as an arched construction can infer it denotes an arch in the Gothic style (i.e., pointed). This noun–noun combination and the concept are cross-linguistically common (e.g. arco gótico, arc gothique), so the sense is immediately recoverable from its parts.
Etymology
The noun Gothic arch comes from medieval builders who used a style called Gothic, making an arch with two sides that rise and meet in a sharp point at the top. That clear picture of a pointed arch is why Gothic arch now means the tall, pointed arch shape you see in old cathedrals.