əˈbɛsk noun
1.
Fine Arts. a sinuous, spiraling, undulating, or serpentine line or linear motif.
2.
a pose in ballet in which the dancer stands on one leg with one arm extended in front and the other leg and arm extended behind.
3.
a short, fanciful musical piece, typically for piano.
4.
any ornament or ornamental object, as a rug or mosaic, in which flowers, foliage, fruits, vases, animals, and figures are represented in a fancifully combined pattern.
adjective
5.
decorated with or characterized by arabesques: arabesque design.
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Arabesque
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Origin:
1605–15; < French < Italian arabesco ornament in Islamic style, literally, Arabian, equivalent to arab(o) arab + -esco -esque
1605–15; < French < Italian arabesco ornament in Islamic style, literally, Arabian, equivalent to arab(o) arab + -esco -esque
Related forms
ar·a·besque·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To arabesque
Collins
World English Dictionary
arabesque (ˌærəˈbɛsk) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | ballet a classical position in which the dancer has one leg raised behind and both arms stretched out in one of several conventional poses |
| 2. | music a piece or movement with a highly ornamented or decorated melody |
| 3. | arts |
| a. a type of curvilinear decoration in painting, metalwork, etc, with intricate intertwining leaf, flower, animal, or geometrical designs | |
| b. a design of flowing lines | |
| —adj | |
| 4. | designating, of, or decorated in this style |
| [C18: from French, from Italian arabesco in the Arabic style] | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
arabesque
1610s, "Moorish or Arabic ornamental design," from Fr. arabesque, from It. arabesco, from Arabo "Arab," with reference to Moorish architecture. As a ballet pose, first attested 1830. Musical sense, in ref. to an ornamented theme, is from 1864, originally the title given by Robert Schumann to one of his
piano pieces.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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