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Definitions

Architrave: the moulded frame around a door or window opening; in classical architecture, the lowest member of an entablature.

Baseboard: see skirting board

Batten door: a door made from vertical boards joined together with two or more horizontal boards nailed on to their back sides.

Beaded moulding: a small curved moulding decorated by a series of beads.

Bolection moulding: a moulding covering the uneven joint made by two members of different sizes, especially popular for fielded paneling in the late 17th and 18th centuries.

Broken pediment: a pediment with a gap in the crown, sometimes filled with an urn or other motif. A broken bed pediment has a gap in the base.

Chair rail: a wall moulding that tops the dado and prevents chairs pushed against the wall from damaging the surface; also called a dado rail.

Coffered ceiling: a ceiling in which the beams and cross-beams leave a regular pattern of square or multi-sided sunken panels, or coffers, each of which is often decorated with moulded, carved or painted decoration.

Column: a vertical member, circular in section, and normally with a gentle taper (entasis). In classical architecture, it is composed of a base, shaft and capital.

Composition: an amalgam made from paper or wood pulp, with whiting and glue. Used for applied decoration.

Cornice: a projecting moulding located where the ceiling or roof and wall meet; in classical architecture, the projecting top of an entablature.

Cove: a large concave moulding between wall and ceiling.

Coved ceiling: a ceiling that meets the walls at a large concave moulding, or cove.

Crown moulding: an alternative term for cornice.

Cyma: a double-curved profile, convex above and concave below, or vice versa.

Dado: the lower wall surface, from the chair rail down to the skirting board/baseboard.

Dentil: one of a series of small blocks used to form an ornamental row, used primarily in Corinthian, Ionic and Composite mouldings; the collective term is dentillations, or a dentillated cornice.

Doorcase: the wooden, stone or brick framework around a hinged door.

Egg-and-dart moulding: a decorative moulding carved with a series of alternating rounded ovals and arrowheads.

Entablature: in classical architecture, the top of an Order, made up of an architrave, frieze and cornice.

Fascia/Facia: a plain horizontal band in an entablature.

Jamb: the straight vertical side of a doorway, arch or window.

Joinery: finished woodwork, such as that used on doors, windows and stairs.

Keystone: the central stone in the curve of an arch or vault.

Linenfold paneling: wooden paneling in which the individual panels are carved with a motif like the vertical folds of linen, from the Tudor period.

Mantel: the frame surrounding a fireplace; often used to denote just the shelf (mantel shelf).

Millwork: mass-produced woodwork

Modillion: a small ornamental bracket used in a series to support the upper part of a Corinthian or Composite cornice.

Moulding: a decorative contour, in wood or stone

Overdoor: a decorative section above a door, often paneled or containing a painting

Overmantel: a decorative treatment above a fireplace, often incorporating a painting or mirror.

Ovolo moulding: a wide convex moulding, often called a quarter-round because it forms a quarter-section of a circle.

Pediment: a low-pitched gable across a portico, door or window; any similar triangular decorative piece over a doorway, fireplace or other feature. A pediment that is open on top is called a broken pediment.

Picture Rail: a moulding on the upper part of a wall from which pictures are hung

Pilaster: a flat rectangular classical column fixed against a wall, or used to frame a doorway, fireplace, etc.

Plinth: the projecting base of a wall or column.

Rabbetted: two members joined together by interlocking grooves cut into each; also spelled rabbeted

Rail: a horizontal member of the frame of a door, panel, etc.

Skirting board: the flat moulding running around the base of a wall; called a baseboard in the United States.

Tongue-and-groove: a method of joining wood so that the edge of one board has a tongue, or lip, that fits into a groove on the edge of another board.

Transom light: in the United States, a window or pane above a door, whether rectangular or arched (known as a fanlight in Britain); also, a window that is hinged along its top edge.

Wainscot: the simple, early form of wooden paneling, either full height or on the lower half of a wall; also called wainscoting. The term is also applied to the oak or other timber used for paneling.