arabesques

Noun

arabesque (plural arabesques)

1. (also, attributive) An elaborate design of intertwined floral figures or complex geometrical patterns, mainly used in Islamic art and architecture.
   • The house of Ruthven was a small but ultra-modern limestone affair, between Madison and Fifth ;[…]. As a matter of fact its narrow ornate façade presented not a single quiet space that the eyes might rest on after a tiring attempt to follow and codify the arabesques, foliations, and intricate...1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter V, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
2. An ornate composition, especially for the piano.
3. (ballet) A dance position in which the dancer stands on one leg, with the other raised backwards, and the arms outstretched.
4. (attributive, broadly) Elaborate or ornate creations in general.
   • It was a sort of scene which Adam had beheld almost weekly for years; he knew by heart every arabesque flourish in the framed specimen of Bartle Massey’s handwriting which hung over the schoolmaster’s head, by way of keeping a lofty ideal before the minds of his pupils; […].1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XXI, in Adam Bede […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC

See all 6 meanings of arabesque