finials

Noun

finial (plural finials)

1. Especially in Gothic architecture: an ornament, often in the form of a bunch or knot of foliage, on the peak of the gable of a roof, a pediment, a pinnacle, etc.
   • His [Butades'] invention it vvas to ſet up Gargils or Antiques at the top of a Gavill end, as a finiall to the creſt tiles, vvhich in the beginning he called Protypa.1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXXV.] The First Devisers of the Art of Potterie, and in Working in Cley. Of Images Made of Earth. Of Earthen Vessels, and Their Value...
2. (broadly) Any decorative fitting on the corner, end, or top of an object such as a canopy, a fencepost, a flagpole, a curtain rod, or the newel post of a staircase.
   • The finial is also of timber (probably oak) and is of the rather elaborate type, originally favoured by the London & South Western Railway for its timber masts.1947 January–February, “Notes and News: An Unusual Signal at Mottisfont, S.R.”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 55
3. (also, attributive, figuratively) The completion or end of something.
   • But, as the Phœnix on my Front doth gliſter, / Thou ſhalt the Finials of my Frame illuſtre.1608, [Guillaume de Salluste] Du Bartas, “[Du Bartas His First Week, or Birth of the World: […].] The Fift Daie of the First Week.”, in Josuah Sylvester, transl., Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and...