/dawr"ik, dor"-/ , adj.
1. of or pertaining to Doris, its inhabitants, or their dialect.
2. rustic, as a dialect.
3. Archit. noting or pertaining to one of the five classical orders, developed in Greece and altered by the Romans. The Greek Doric order consists typically of a channeled column without a base, having as a capital a circular echinus supporting a square abacus, above which come a plain architrave, a frieze of triglyphs and metopes, and a cornice, the corona of which has mutules on its soffit. In the Roman Doric order, the columns usually have bases, the channeling is sometimes altered or omitted, and the capital usually consists of three parts: a thick, bandlike necking, an echinus with an ovolo outline, and a molded abacus. Cf. composite (def. 2), Corinthian (def. 2), Ionic (def. 1), Tuscan (def. 2). See illus. under order .
n.
4. a dialect of ancient Greek spoken on Rhodes and other islands of the Dodecanese, in Crete, in Syracuse, and in all of the Peloponnesus except Arcadia.
5. rustic English speech.
[ 1555-65; Doricus Dorikós Dorian ]