Arch
[ɑːtʃ] or [ɑrtʃ]
Definition
(noun.) (architecture) a masonry construction (usually curved) for spanning an opening and supporting the weight above it.
(noun.) a passageway under a curved masonry construction; 'they built a triumphal arch to memorialize their victory'.
(noun.) a curved bony structure supporting or enclosing organs (especially the inner sides of the feet).
(noun.) a curved shape in the vertical plane that spans an opening.
(verb.) form an arch or curve; 'her back arches'; 'her hips curve nicely'.
(adj.) naughtily or annoyingly playful; 'teasing and worrying with impish laughter'; 'a wicked prank' .
(adj.) (used of behavior or attitude) characteristic of those who treat others with condescension .
(adj.) expert in skulduggery; 'an arch criminal' .
Typist: Willie--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Any part of a curved line.
(n.) Usually a curved member made up of separate wedge-shaped solids, with the joints between them disposed in the direction of the radii of the curve; used to support the wall or other weight above an opening. In this sense arches are segmental, round (i. e., semicircular), or pointed.
(n.) A flat arch is a member constructed of stones cut into wedges or other shapes so as to support each other without rising in a curve.
(n.) Any place covered by an arch; an archway; as, to pass into the arch of a bridge.
(n.) Any curvature in the form of an arch; as, the arch of the aorta.
(v. t.) To cover with an arch or arches.
(v. t.) To form or bend into the shape of an arch.
(v. i.) To form into an arch; to curve.
(a.) Chief; eminent; greatest; principal.
(a.) Cunning or sly; sportively mischievous; roguish; as, an arch look, word, lad.
(n.) A chief.
Edited by Dorothy
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. (Geom.) Arc, part of a circumference.[2]. Curved structure.
v. a. [1]. Vault, cover with an arch, arch over.[2]. Bend into the form of an arch.
a. [1]. Chief, principal, consummate, first-rate, of the first class.[2]. Sly, shrewd, cunning, wily, astute, subtle.[3]. Roguish, waggish, mirthful, frolicsome, sportive, merry, playful.
Typist: Ollie
Definition
adj. cunning: waggish: roguish: shrewd now mostly of women and children.—adv. Arch′ly.—n. Arch′ness.
adj. used as a prefix now chiefly as an intensive in an odious sense: the first or chief.—ns. Arch′-en′emy a chief enemy: Satan—also Arch′-foe; Arch′-fiend the supreme fiend: Satan; Arch′-flā′men a chief flamen or priest; Arch-he′resy; Arch′-he′retic a leader of heresy; Arch′-mock′ (Shak.) the height of mockery; Arch′-pī′rate a chief pirate; Arch′-pō′et a chief poet: (obs.) a poet-laureate; Arch′-prel′ate a chief prelate; Arch′-priest′ a chief priest: in early times a kind of vicar to the bishop—later a rural dean: the title given to the superiors appointed by the Pope to govern the secular priests sent into England from the foreign seminaries during the period 1598-1621; Arch′-trait′or a chief traitor sometimes applied esp. to the devil or to Judas.
n. a concave construction of stones or other materials built or turned on a centering over an open space so as by mutual pressure to support each other and sustain a superincumbent weight.—v.t. to cover with an arch: to bend into the form of an arch.—p.adj. Arched made with an arch or like an arch.—ns. Arch′let a little arch; Arch′way an arched or vaulted passage esp. that leading into a castle.—Arches or Court of Arches the ecclesiastical court of appeal for the province of Canterbury formerly held at the church of St-Mary-le-Bow (or 'of the Arches') from the arches that support its steeple.
Checked by Antoine
Unserious Contents or Definition
An arch in a dream, denotes your rise to distinction and the gaining of wealth by persistent effort. To pass under one, foretells that many will seek you who formerly ignored your position. For a young woman to see a fallen arch, denotes the destruction of her hopes, and she will be miserable in her new situation.
Inputed by Gerard
Examples
- The lad only answered by turning his cynical young face, half-arch, half-truculent, towards the paternal chair. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- The arbour was an arch in the wall, lined with ivy; it contained a rustic seat. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Napoleon, thwarted of a Russian princess, snubbed indeed by Alexander, turned to Austria, and married the arch-duchess Marie Louise. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Mr. Gamfield gave an arch look at the faces round the table, and, observing a smile on all of them, gradually broke into a smile himself. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- The speaker gave an arch little nod. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- That is as true of all the minute creatures that swarmed and reproduced and died in the Arch?ozoic and Proterozoic seas, as it is of men to-day. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- These sagas, epics, and vedas do supply, in addition to arch?ology and philology, a third source of information about those vanished times. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- From the top of the crosses rise imperial arches, closing under a mound and cross. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Yes--the dry arches of Waterloo Bridge. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- In the building of the Cooper Institute in New York City in 1857 he was the first to employ such beams with brick arches to support the floors. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- Vast arches, that may have been the gates of the city, are built in the same way. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Permission could not be obtained to interfere with the navigation of the Straits in the slightest degree during the building, and so piers and arches could not be used. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- Both listened to the thunder, which was loud, and to the rain, as it washed off the roof, and pattered on the parapets of the arches. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- And yet its arches, its columns, and its statues proclaim it to have been built by an enlightened race. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- A dull light placed in the deep recess of the window, made little impression on the arched room. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- It was built in the Moorish fashion,--a square building enclosing a court-yard, into which the carriage drove through an arched gateway. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- His nose has been broken at some time or other, and is arched like a culvert now. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Mr. Fairlie arched his eyebrows and pursed up his lips in sarcastic surprise. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- My companion let down the window, and I caught a glimpse of a low, arched doorway with a lamp burning above it. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- All he saw was the trumpery parasol that arched its pinkness above her giggling head. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- In a low-arched and dusky passage, by which he endeavoured to work his way to the hall of the castle, he was interrupted by a female form. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Primitivo brought the pine branches and Robert Jordan stuck them through the snow into the unfrozen earth, arching them over the gun from either side. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- But arching more and much finer. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- A young grey cat that had been sleeping on the sofa jumped down and stretched, rising on its long legs, and arching its slim back. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Thou with the big neck arching like the viaduct of my pueblo, he stopped. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- She could see him, in the mirror, as he stood there behind her, tall and over-arching--blond and terribly frightening. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- The boat went on, under the arching trees, and over their tranquil shadows in the water. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
Edited by Angelina