gadroon

English

Design for a gadrooned vase, a. 1725

Etymology

From French godron, from Middle French goderon, from a form of godet (“vase with wavy edges”) + -(e)ron, from Dutch kodde (“piece of cylindrical wood”). Also probably related to goder (“to pucker”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡəˈdɹuːn/
• Rhymes: -uːn

Noun

gadroon (plural gadroons)

1. Any of a series of raised decorative curves used as adornments on the necks of vases, silverware, etc.
   • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter V:

     Owing possibly to some flaw in his mental make-up, Uncle Tom has been collecting old silver since I was so high […] . I knew all about that collection of his, not only because I had had to listen to him for hours on the subject of sconces, foliation, ribbon wreaths in high relief and gadroon borders, but because I had what you might call a personal interest in it, once having stolen an eighteenth-century cow-creamer for him.

2. (architecture) A godroon.

Derived terms

• gadrooned
• gadrooning

Translations

decorative curves

• Persian: خیاره (fa) (xiyâre)

godroon — see godroon

Further reading

• “gadroon”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• dragoon