Propylon

Definitions

  • Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
    • n Propylon (Anc. Arch) The porch, vestibule, or entrance of an edifice.
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    • n propylon In ancient Egyptian architecture, a monumental gateway, usually between two towers in outline like truncated pyramids, of which one or a series stood before the actual entrance or pylon of most temples or other important buildings.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
    • n Propylon a monumental gateway before the entrance of an ancient Egyptian temple, &c
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Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
NL., from Gr. ; before + a gate
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
Gr. pro, before, pylē, a gate.

Usage

In literature:

Instead of being dwarfed by the enormous masses of the propylons, their height gained by the near comparison.
"Roman Mosaics" by Hugh Macmillan
The entrance to this temple is through a magnificent propylon;-that is, a portal flanked by massy pyramidal moles.
"Sketches The Carrier Pigeon, The Consul's Daughter, Walstein--Or A Cure For Melancholy, The Court Of Egypt, The Valley Of Thebes, Egyptian Thebes, Shoubra Eden And Lebanon, A Syrian Sketch, The Bosphorus, An Interview With A Great Turk, Munich, The Spirit Of Whiggism" by Benjamin Disraeli
The train had halted before a vast propylon of rose-coloured granite.
"The Infernal Marriage" by Benjamin Disraeli
Minaret, pagoda, dome, propylon, arch, portico jutted up from the labyrinth like tares amid a cornfield.
"The Orchard of Tears" by Sax Rohmer
The walls of the propylons tapered from the base towards the top, and the same thing sometimes occurred in other walls.
"Architecture" by Thomas Roger Smith
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