Rococo - Definitions from Dictionary.com

9 results for: Rococo

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

ro·co·co

Audio Help [ruh-koh-koh, roh-kuh-koh] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	a style of architecture and decoration, originating in France about 1720, evolved from Baroque types and distinguished by its elegant refinement in using different materials for a delicate overall effect and by its ornament of shellwork, foliage, etc.

2.	a homophonic musical style of the middle 18th century, marked by a generally superficial elegance and charm and by the use of elaborate ornamentation and stereotyped devices.

–adjective

(initial capital letter

) Fine Arts.

a.	noting or pertaining to a style of painting developed simultaneously with the rococo in architecture and decoration, characterized chiefly by smallness of scale, delicacy of color, freedom of brushwork, and the selection of playful subjects as thematic material.

b.	designating a corresponding style of sculpture, chiefly characterized by diminutiveness of Baroque forms and playfulness of theme.

4.	of, pertaining to, in the manner of, or suggested by rococo architecture, decoration, or music or the general atmosphere and spirit of the rococo: rococo charm.

5.	ornate or florid in speech, literary style, etc.

[Origin: 1830–40; < F, akin to rocaille rocaille

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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Rococo

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

ro·co·co Audio Help (rə-kō'kō, rō'kə-kō') Pronunciation Key
n. also Rococo

1. A style of art, especially architecture and decorative art, that originated in France in the early 18th century and is marked by elaborate ornamentation, as with a profusion of scrolls, foliage, and animal forms.
2. A very ornate style of speech or writing.
Music A style of composition arising in 18th-century France, often viewed as an extension of the baroque, and characterized by a high degree of ornamentation and lightness of expression.

adj.

also Rococo Of or relating to the rococo.
Immoderately elaborate or complicated.

[French, probably alteration of rocaille, rockwork, from roc, rock, variant of roche, from Vulgar Latin *rocca.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
rococo

1836, "old-fashioned," from Fr. rococo, apparently a humorous alteration of rocaille "shellwork, pebble-work" from M.Fr. roche "rock," from V.L. *rocca "stone." Specifically of furniture or architecture of the time of Louis Quatorze and Louis Quinze, from 1841. The reference is to the excessive use of shell designs in this lavish style. For differentiation from baroque, see baroque. The general sense of "tastelessly florid or ornate" is from 1844.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

rococo
adjective
1.	having excessive asymmetrical ornamentation; "an exquisite gilded rococo mirror"
noun
1.	fanciful but graceful asymmetric ornamentation in art and architecture that originated in France in the 18th century

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
rococo [(ruh-koh-koh, roh-kuh-koh)]

A style of baroque art and architecture popular in Europe during the eighteenth century, characterized by flowing lines and elaborate decoration.

[Chapter:] Fine Arts

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

rococo jargon, abuse
Baroque in the extreme. Used to imply that a program has become so encrusted with the software equivalent of gold leaf and curlicues that they have completely swamped the underlying design. Called after the later and more extreme forms of Baroque architecture and decoration prevalent during the mid-1700s in Europe. Alan Perlis said: "Every program eventually becomes rococo, and then rubble."
Compare critical mass.
[The Jargon File]
(1996-04-06)