abat-jour

[ ah-bah-zhoor; French a-ba-zhoor ]

noun

, plural a·bat-jours [ah-bah-, zhoorz, a, -b, a, -, zhoor].

1. a device, as a skylight or reflector, for diverting light into a building.
2. a sloping screen for cutting off the view between an interior or porch and a lower area in front of a building.

Word History and Origins

Origin of abat-jour¹

1820–30; < French: literally, it throws down ( abat ) the daylight ( jour ). See abate, journey

Example Sentences

The salon into which I now entered was a large and splendidly-furnished apartment, whose light, tempered by a species of abat-jour, gave a kind of soft mysterious effect to everything about, and made even the figures, as they sat in little groups, appear something almost dramatic in their character.

From Project Gutenberg

Tout au fond, devant une longue table, le principal �crivait � la lueur p�le d’une lampe dont l’abat-jour �tait compl�tement baiss�.

From Project Gutenberg

Lui, de son c�t�, releva, pour mieux me voir, l’abat-jour de la lampe et accrocha un lorgnon � son nez.

From Project Gutenberg

De temps en temps, en ouvrant les yeux, il voit sous la clart� douce de l’abat-jour le bon abb� Germane qui, tout en fumant, fait courir sa plume, � petit bruit, du haut en bas des feuilles blanches....

From Project Gutenberg

Just in front of it, from the tall, raftered ceiling above, there hangs a small brass lamp, with a green abat-jour.

From Project Gutenberg