cupola · noun — A dome-shaped ornamental structure located on top of a larger roof or dome. It carries an Arena rating of 1570, earned across 4 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, cupola ranks #322 of 17,197 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #371 of 43,042 for Qualifying, #1,177 of 17,163 for Most Beautiful Words, #2,287 of 17,162 for Most Elegant Words.
cupola is pronounced /ˈkjuːpələ/.
Why “cupola” is a great word
A small, dome-like structure crowning a roof or larger dome, often used for decoration, ventilation, or as a lookout. Its name descends from the Italian *cupola*, from the Latin *cūpula* ("little tub"), a diminutive of *cūpa* ("cask, tub, cup"), named for its resemblance to an overturned cup. Unlike a dome, which is the massive, primary vault of a space, or a turret, a fortified, projecting tower, a cupola is a delicate, subsidiary crown. It is the lantern of light and air at a barn's peak, the widow's watch gazing seaward, the gilded finial on a Byzantine church—a small, raised eye turned hopefully toward the sky, built not for shelter but to give the mind a vantage.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian cupola, from Latin cūpula (“little tub”); from Latin cūpa, cuppa (“cup”); named for its resemblance to a cup turned over. Doublet of cupula.
noun
- A dome-shaped ornamental structure located on top of a larger roof or dome.e.g.“the light falling dimly through the foggy cupola.” — 1886, Robert Louis Stephenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde:
- A small turret, usually on a hatch of an armoured fighting vehicle.
- An upward-projecting mass of plutonic rock extending from a larger batholith.
- A solid formed by joining two polygons, one (the base) with twice as many edges as the other, by an alternating band of isosceles triangles and rectangles.
- A type of furnace used for smelting.e.g.“The cupola has a small cylindrical chimney-like bore that is lined with a refractory material.” — 2008, Matthew Stein, When Technology Fails, →ISBN:
- A small cap over a structure that is shaped like a dome or inverted cup.e.g.“the posterior cupola of the cartilaginous nasal capsule”
- a small viewing window in the top of the caboose for looking over the train, or the part of the caboose where one looks through this window.
- A body of members of the Sicilian Mafia who make decisions and settle disputes.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
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