repoussé means A metalworking technique in which a malleable metal is ornamented or shaped by hammering from the reverse side.
repoussé is pronounced /ɹəˈpuːseɪ/.
Why “repoussé” is a great word
A metalworking technique in which malleable metal is ornamented or shaped by hammering from the reverse side to create a design in relief. Borrowed from French repoussé, the past participle of repousser ("to push back, thrust back"), from re- ("back") + pousser ("to push"), ultimately from Latin pulsare ("to push, beat"). First attested in English 1850–55. Unlike "chasing," which refines a design from the front with precise punches, or "embossing," achieved with industrial dies, repoussé is the foundational act of backward creation. It is the silversmith's patient violence against silver, the slow emergence of a god's profile from a blank gold sheet, and the hammer-dented hollow that gives birth to a raised laurel wreath—a reminder that the most enduring forms are often shaped by pressure applied from the unseen side.
Etymology
Borrowed from French repoussé (“pushed up”), ultimately from Latin pulsare (“to push”).
noun
- A metalworking technique in which a malleable metal is ornamented or shaped by hammering from the reverse side.
verb
- To use this metalworking technique.