girandole

Definitions

  • WordNet 3.6
    • n girandole an ornate candle holder; often with a mirror
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
    • girandole A flower stand, fountain, or the like, of branching form.
    • girandole (Pyrotechny) A kind of revolving firework.
    • girandole (Fort) A series of chambers in defensive mines.
    • girandole An ornate ornamental branched candlestick, often with a mirror at the back.
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    • n girandole A branched lightholder, whether for candles or lamps, whether standing on a foot (see candelabrum) serving as a bracket projecting from the wall. The former is the more common signification in English use.
    • n girandole A kind of revolving firework; a pyrotechnic revolving sun; also, any revolving jet of similar form or character: as, a girandole of water.
    • n girandole A piece of jewelry of pendent form, often consisting of a central larger pendant surrounded by smaller ones.
    • n girandole In fortification, a connection of several mine-chambers for the defense of the place of arms of the covered way.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
    • n Girandole jir′an-dōl a branched chandelier, generally projecting from a wall, and used as a stand for candles or lamps, or for flowers: a rotating firework.
    • ***

Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
F. See Gyrate
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
Fr.,—It. girandola—girare—L. gyrāre, to turn round—gyrus—Gr. gyros, a circle.

Usage

In literature:

Among other things, he had made mademoiselle a present of a pair of girandoles, containing diamonds of great value.
"The Private Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Complete" by Constant
On the mantel stood the same girandoles with glittering crystals.
"54-40 or Fight" by Emerson Hough
The uproar continued; the benches were torn up, and the lustres and girandoles broken.
"A Book of the Play" by Dutton Cook
The rooms were lit by old-fashioned chandeliers and girandoles.
"Garman and Worse" by Alexander Lange Kielland
Trying to croon to herself as she passed, and stopping only to hang one of the scarlet girandoles in Vivia's braids, she went in.
"The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 75, January, 1864" by Various
It prevents the sight from being divided, and distracted by girandoles.
"The Stranger in France" by John Carr
Calmly Anna continues to sleep, the lights in the girandoles shedding a mysterious paleness over the scene.
"An Outcast" by F. Colburn Adams
Here and there girandoles were lighted for concerts, gas-jets flared among the foliage.
"The Nabob, Vol. 2 (of 2)" by Alphonse Daudet
Dodo ran up a pair of girandoles that stood on the narrow mantel-shelf in the front room, and finally got them for three dollars.
"Polly's Business Venture" by Lillian Elizabeth Roy
The tables were illuminated by five hundred girandoles.
"Louis XIV., Makers of History Series" by John S. C. Abbott
The Queen gave the bride girandoles of diamonds.
"German Problems and Personalities" by Charles Sarolea
Then there was a shout, a brawl of laughter, that rang to the ceiling and made the girandoles dance.
"Francezka" by Molly Elliot Seawell
Girandoles, with lighted tapers, brilliantly illuminated the room.
"Josephine" by John S. C. Abbott
Trunks of trees and foliage complete the Baker design, which is known to have been used for girandoles of the period.
"The Invention of the Sewing Machine" by Grace Rogers Cooper
Over the fireplace is a beautiful girandole, with convex glass and gilt frame and ebony rim inside.
"Historic Homes" by Mary H. Northend
Late in the nineteenth century mirrors known as bull's-eyes and girandoles came into vogue.
"Colonial Homes and Their Furnishings" by Mary H. Northend
We now stood before a mansion, the windows of which were silvered, and, when it was darker, gilt by girandoles.
"The Campaner Thal and Other Writings" by Jean Paul Friedrich Richter
The sounds of shivering glass as a girandole crashed from its joining met their ears.
"The ghosts of their ancestors" by Weymer Jay Mills
It was intended to be a sort of cross between the girandole and the war-rocket.
"The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury" by Asenath Carver Coolidge
But the central part of the festival was the gigantic hall, over which the girandoles diffused a sea of light.
"The Hill of Venus" by Nathan Gallizier
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In poetry:

In girandoles of gladioles
The day had kindled flame;
And Heaven a door of gold and pearl
Unclosed when Morning,--like a girl,
A red rose twisted in a curl,--
Down sapphire stairways came.
"Love And A Day" by Madison Julius Cawein

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