I. |arə|besk also |er- adjective
Etymology: French, from Italian arabesco, from arabesco Arabic, made or done in the Arabic fashion, from Arabo Arab (from Latin Arabus ) + -esco -esque — more at arab
: relating to or exhibiting the style of ornament called arabesque
arabesque frescoes
II. noun
( -s )
1.
a. : an ornament or a style of ornamentation found in painting, low-relief carving, mosaic, and textile design that employs flower, foliage, or fruit and sometimes animal and figural outlines or forms so as to produce an intricate pattern of interlaced lines sometimes geometric and angular in character (as in Islamic art) and sometimes curviform and flowing (as in Renaissance decoration)
b. : a linear design motif of the kind occurring in arabesque ornament
2. : musical embellishment ; specifically : a passage of music suggestive of an arabesque
3. : a posture (as in ballet dancing) in which the body is bent forward from the hip on one leg with the corresponding arm extended forward and the other arm and leg backward in a line parallel to the floor
[s]arabesqu.jpg[/s] [
arabesque 1
]
III. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: arabesque (II)
: to ornament with or in the style of arabesques
IV. noun
: an elaborate or intricate pattern
arabesques of alliteration — C.E.Montague
richly pierced by an arabesque of wormholes — John Chase