girandole

American  

[jir-uhn-dohl] / ˈdʒɪr ənˌdoʊl /

Also girandola

noun

1. a rotating and radiating firework.

2. an ornate bracket for candelabra or the like, sometimes with a reflecting mirror at the back of the shelf.

3. a brooch or earring consisting of a central ornament with usually three smaller ornaments hanging from it.

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girandole British  

/ ˈdʒɪrənˌdəʊl, dʒɪˈrændələ /

noun

1. an ornamental branched wall candleholder, usually incorporating a mirror

2. an earring or pendant having a central gem surrounded by smaller ones

3. a kind of revolving firework

4. artillery a group of connected mines

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Etymology

Origin of girandole

First recorded in 1625–35; from French, from Italian girandola, derivative of girare “to turn in a circle, revolve,” from Late Latin gȳrāre, derivative of gȳrus “circular track (for horses), ring, circle,” from Greek gŷros

Example Sentences

To the left is a girandole from 1730 made from Murano glass.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 3, 2015

Underneath the girandole are two of my books: my latest, Diving for Pearls, and Sisters, Saints and Sibyls, which is very rare.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 3, 2015

Each hourly chime Proclaims the law that swung the girandole.

From The Call of the Mountains and other Poems by Pickering, James E.

The girandole proper was getting to be rather monotonous, having been used as the end piece to pyro-spectacles for fifty years or more.

From The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury by Coolidge, Asenath Carver

The empanelled walls were white, with here a gilt mirror, flanked on either side by a girandole in ormolu.

From The Lion's Skin by Sabatini, Rafael