Apsidal


Architecture. a semicircular or polygonal termination or recess in a building, usually vaulted and used especially at the end of a choir in a church.
Astronomy. an apsis.
Historical Examples

The roof of the chancel is apsidal, externally, as well as the nave, covered with modern house tiles.
A History of Horncastle James Conway Walter

Further, the chancel at Bradford is rectangular, not apsidal.
The Ground Plan of the English Parish Church A. Hamilton Thompson

The chamber is covered with a coating of ashlar masonry, which is shaped into an apsidal form at the end opposite to the façade.
Rough Stone Monuments and Their Builders T. Eric Peet

Assuming that the choir was not apsidal but square, we get the same result.
Scottish Cathedrals and Abbeys Dugald Butler and Herbert Story

Indeed, if it had been possible to open the apsidal chancel a little more, it would have been an improvement.
The Church Index William Pepperell

These are all apsidal, but planned in the usual way and not as at the Frari.
Brick and Marble in the Middle Ages George Edmund Street

The apsidal chapel which opens in its eastern wall has over it a similar chapel that gives on the tribune gallery.
How France Built Her Cathedrals Elizabeth Boyle O’Reilly

The wall in the monastery gardens is apsidal, the other is rectangular.
Rambles in Rome S. Russell Forbes

They are square as seen from the exterior, but prove to be apsidal on entering.
Wanderings in Wessex Edric Holmes

The southern, unlike the other apsidal chapels, has three windows.
Bell’s Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Lincoln A. F. Kendrick

noun
Also called apsis. a domed or vaulted semicircular or polygonal recess, esp at the east end of a church
(astronomy) another name for apsis (sense 1)
n.

“semicircular extension at the end of a church,” 1846, from Latin apsis “an arch, a vault,” from Greek hapsis (Ionic apsis) “loop, arch,” originally “a fastening, felloe of a wheel,” from haptein “fasten together,” of unknown origin. The original sense in Greek seems to have been the joining of the arcs to form a circle, especially in making a wheel. The architectural term is earlier attested in English in the Latin form (1706).

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    the rotation of the major axis of an eccentric orbit in the plane of the orbit.

  • Apsides

    Astronomy. either of two points in an eccentric orbit, one (higher apsis) farthest from the center of attraction, the other (lower apsis) nearest to the center of attraction. Architecture. an apse. Historical Examples The two are joined by a diameter called the line of the apsides. The Sailor’s Word-Book William Henry Smyth The line of […]

  • Apsis

    Astronomy. either of two points in an eccentric orbit, one (higher apsis) farthest from the center of attraction, the other (lower apsis) nearest to the center of attraction. Architecture. an apse. Historical Examples It does not span the apsis of a church; it spans rivers and valleys. Beacon Lights of History, Volume V John Lord […]

  • Apsidiole

    a small apse, especially one attached to a larger apse or a transept.

  • Apsu

    an Akkadian god: the consort of Tiamat and the father of the gods. Historical Examples Apsu was the waters underneath the dry land and Timat the salt sea. Archology and the Bible George A. Barton The fragments of text show that Ea waged war against Apsu and Mummu. The Babylonian Legends of the Creation British […]


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