plinth

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The Word of the Day for November 14 is: 

plinth   \PLINTH\   noun
     1 : the lowest part of the base of an architectural column 
    *2: a usually square block serving as a base; broadly : any of various 
bases or lower parts 

Example sentence:
     The thieves had managed to remove the statue, leaving behind only an empty 
plinth.

Did you know?
     "These ivy-clad arcades -- / These mouldering plinths... are they all -- / 
All of the famed, and the colossal left...?" In these lines from "The 
Coliseum," Edgar Allan Poe alludes to a practical feature of classical 
architecture. The plinth serves the important purpose of raising the base of 
the column it supports above the ground, thus protecting it from dampness and 
mold. The humble plinth is usually a mere thick block. It's humbly named, too, 
for the Greek word "plinthos" means simply "tile" or "brick." English writers 
have used "plinth," a shortened version of the Latin form "plinthus," since the 
beginning of the 17th century. The meaning was extended to bases for statues, 
vases, or busts in the 18th century.





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