ovolo

[ oh-vuh-loh ]

noun

, Architecture.

, plural o·vo·li [oh, -v, uh, -lahy].

1. a convex molding forming or approximating in section a quarter of a circle or ellipse.

ovolo

/ ˈəʊvəˌləʊ /

noun

1. architect a convex moulding having a cross section in the form of a quarter of a circle or ellipse Also calledquarter roundthumb Compare congé echinus

Word History and Origins

Origin of ovolo¹

1655–65; < Italian, variant (now obsolete) of uovolo, diminutive of uovo egg ¹ < Latin ōvum

Word History and Origins

Origin of ovolo¹

C17: from Italian: a little egg, from ovo egg, from Latin ōvum

Example Sentences

It has been quite a good year for the queen of local mushrooms, the russet-capped ovolo; and a pretty good one for the king, or “little pig”, the porcino.

From The Guardian

Apropos of Sherwood's at Jamestown, few of us, if any, know that his mansion possessed openings with ovolo bricks—bricks rubbed and cut in an egg-shaped ornamental moulding.

From Project Gutenberg

Again: the Doric capital was unimitative; but all the beauty it had was dependent on the precision of its ovolo, a natural curve of the most frequent occurrence.

From Project Gutenberg

The term is sometimes given to the ovolo of the Ionic capital, especially when curved with the egg-and-tongue enrichment.

From Project Gutenberg

Lastly, the crowning part is, in the Greek Doric, a single convex moulding, not very dissimilar in profile to the ovolo of the capital, and forming what we commonly call an eaves-gutter.

From Project Gutenberg