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quatrefoil

[ kat-er-foil, ka-truh- ]

noun

  1. a leaf composed of four leaflets.
  2. Architecture. a panellike ornament composed of four lobes, divided by cusps, radiating from a common center.


quatrefoil

/ ˈkætrəˌfɔɪl /

noun

  1. a leaf composed of four leaflets
  2. architect a carved ornament having four foils arranged about a common centre, esp one used in tracery
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Other Words From

  • quatre·foiled adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of quatrefoil1

1375–1425; Middle English < Middle French quatre four + -foil (as in trefoil )
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Word History and Origins

Origin of quatrefoil1

C15: from Old French, from quatre four + -foil leaflet; compare trefoil
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Example Sentences

On the ground-floor, which was lighted by a row of quatrefoil windows in pointed arches, there were forty-eight rectangular doors.

On the south, however, the quatrefoil decoration is slightly different.

The mullions, or radii, are all faced with small pillars and capitals, and lined with the dog-toothed quatrefoil.

Above this is an open gallery with very beautiful twisted pillars and quatrefoil piercing in the three arches.

The windows in the chapels of the chevet are of two lights, with a small quatrefoil pierced in the tympanum above the lights.

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Quatre Brasquattrocento