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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

quincuncial en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • /kwɪnˈkʌnʃəl/

Etymology

From Latin quincuncialis.

Meanings

  1. Arranged in a quincunx.
    • In architecture the quincunxial shape was considered a sort of housing for the divine power – a battery, if you like, which gathered into itself the divinity as it tried to pour earthward, to earth itself – just like an electrical current does. 1985, Lawrence Durrell, Quinx (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 1297:
    • Of this Quincunciall Ordination the Ancients practiſed much[,] diſcourſed little; […] 1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. […]. Chapter I.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, page 98:
  2. Having the leaves of a pentamerous calyx or corolla so imbricated that two are exterior, two are interior, and the other has one edge exterior and one interior.
    • quincuncial aestivation

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
more quincuncial Degree=Cmp lexicographic
most quincuncial Degree=Sup lexicographic

Deriveds

quincuncially · quincuncial phyllotaxy

Translations (2)

ro cvincuncial (arranged in a quincunx) · pl kwinkunksowy (arranged in a quincunx)