cabriole

American  

[kab-ree-ohl, ka-bree-awl] / ˈkæb riˌoʊl, ka briˈɔl /

noun

plural

cabrioles

1. Furniture. a curved, tapering leg curving outward at the top and inward farther down so as to end in a round pad, the semblance of an animal's paw, or some other feature: used especially in the first half of the 18th century.

2. Ballet. a leap in which one leg is raised in the air and the other is brought up to beat against it.

---

cabriole British  

/ ˈkæbrɪˌəʊl /

noun

1. Also called: cabriole leg.  a type of furniture leg, popular in the first half of the 18th century, in which an upper convex curve descends tapering to a concave curve

2. ballet a leap in the air with one leg outstretched and the other beating against it

---

Etymology

Origin of cabriole

1775–85; < French: leap, caper; so called because modeled on leg of a capering animal ( capriole ); b by influence of cabri kid (≪ Old Provençal ) and kindred words

Example Sentences

‘The Danish dining table with cabriole legs would make a strict modernist hyperventilate.’

From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 29, 2016

“They don’t bear specific style characteristics that date them, like cabriole legs or acanthus leaves,” she said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Aug. 20, 2015

Its attenuated cabriole legs, delicate swags, and flowering-urn ornamentation reference the Louis XV period, but the diminutive artifact is surfaced in then-fashion-forward shagreen and ebony.

From Architectural Digest • Aug. 27, 2014

The craftsmen, probably based in Lewisburg, used inlay motifs popular around Baltimore and Charleston, S.C., and borrowed cabriole forms from New Orleans traditions.

From New York Times • Dec. 6, 2012

Characteristic of the Chippendale manner are the cabriole legs and the style of the relief carving.

From Handbook of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts by Breck, Joseph