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Glite Dictionary
🛏️ Lying down 🗿 Tomb sculpture
gisant

gisant

9.9
Lying flat, like a figure shown on a tomb or statue
  • adjective
  • /dʒɪˈzɑːnt/
  • Archaic
translation icon : gisante
  • The museum displayed a gisant figure carved from marble, representing a sleeping noblewoman.

Examples

  • Art historians studied the gisant effigies to learn about burial customs of the period.

  • The medieval tomb featured a gisant statue of the knight in full armor.

  • The gisant figure in the cathedral captured the attention of all visitors.

  • Is this sculpture a gisant representation of a historical figure?

  • The medieval tomb featured a gisant statue of the knight in full armor.

  • The museum displayed a gisant figure carved from marble, representing a sleeping noblewoman.

  • Art historians studied the gisant effigies to learn about burial customs of the period.

Synonyms

flat on one's back
vsgisant
9 4.0

Lying on the back on the ground because someone is tired, hurt, or sick

is neutral about face direction rather than explicitly face upward
supine
vsgisant
3 7.4

Lying on the back with the face up

is neutral about face direction rather than explicitly face upward
lying supine
vsgisant
1 6.1

A person who is on their back with their face up

is neutral about face direction rather than explicitly face upward

Surface Forms

gisant positive

Etymology

Gisant comes from the French verb gésir, which means 'to lie', and from the old Latin verb jacere, 'to lie down'. Like the English verb lie, when something is called gisant it is shown 'lying down', so the word fits art that shows a figure lying flat.