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abacus
Part of speech: NounA device for counting, consisting of beads or balls strung on wires or rods set in a frame; the top layer of a column or pillar.
Usage examples "abacus":- Flutings also adorn the short architraves each side of the fanlight, and the abacus of the pilaster columns which is carried across a supplementary lintel in front of the lintel proper, the latter being several inches to the rear because of the deeply recessed arrangement of the door. - "The Colonial Architecture of Philadelphia", Frank Cousins Phil M. Riley.
- Very few of these capitals fit the abacus on which they rest; most of them are exquisitely carved with foliage free from all imagery. - "Cathedral Cities of Italy", William Wiehe Collins.
- Some are round, but they are more commonly eight- sided, or have at least an eight- sided abacus, often with the sides hollow forming a star. - "Portuguese Architecture", Walter Crum Watson.