/uy on"ik/ , adj.
1. Archit. noting or pertaining to one of the five classical orders that in ancient Greece consisted of a fluted column with a molded base and a capital composed of four volutes, usually parallel to the architrave with a pulvinus connecting a pair on each side of the column, and an entablature typically consisting of an architrave of three fascias, a richly ornamented frieze, and a cornice corbeled out on egg-and-dart and dentil moldings, with the frieze sometimes omitted. Roman and Renaissance examples are often more elaborate, and usually set the volutes of the capitals at 45° to the architrave. Cf. composite (def. 3), Corinthian (def. 2), Doric (def. 3), Tuscan (def. 2). See illus. under order, volute .
2. Pros. noting or employing a foot consisting either of two long followed by two short syllables (greater Ionic) , or of two short followed by two long syllables (lesser Ionic) .
3. noting or pertaining to that variety of the eastern branch of the early Greek alphabet that was used for the writing of the Ionic dialect and that became the variety used for all dialects of Greek from the 4th century B.C. to the present.
4. of or pertaining to Ionia or the Ionians.
n.
5. Pros. an Ionic foot, verse, or meter.
6. the dialect of ancient Greek spoken in Euboea, the Cyclades, and on the mainland of Asia Minor at Miletus and elsewhere.
7. Trademark. a style of printing type.
[ 1555-65; Ionicus Ionikós of IONIA; see -IC ]