ARCH • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Arch

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/ɑrtʃ/ Listen

noun

Arch n.

1.

(Geom.) Any part of a curved line.

2.

(Arch.)

(a)

Usually a curved member made up of separate wedge-shaped solids, with the joints between them disposed in the direction of the radii of the curve; used to support the wall or other weight above an opening. In this sense arches are segmental, round (i. e., semicircular), or pointed.

(b)

A flat arch is a member constructed of stones cut into wedges or other shapes so as to support each other without rising in a curve. Note: Scientifically considered, the arch is a means of spanning an opening by resolving vertical pressure into horizontal or diagonal thrust.

3.

Any place covered by an arch; an archway; as, to pass into the arch of a bridge.

4.

Any curvature in the form of an arch; as, the arch of the aorta. "Colors of the showery arch."

Triumphal arch, a monumental structure resembling an arched gateway, with one or more passages, erected to commemorate a triumph.

Arch n. A chief. (Obs.) "My worthy arch and patron comes to-night."

adjective

Arch adj.

1.

Chief; eminent; greatest; principal. "The most arch act of piteous massacre."

2.

Cunning or sly; sportively mischievous; roguish; as, an arch look, word, lad. "(He) spoke his request with so arch a leer."

verb

Arch v. t. (past & past part. arched; pres. part. arching)

1.

To cover with an arch or arches.

2.

To form or bend into the shape of an arch. "The horse arched his neck."

Arch v. i. To form into an arch; to curve.

prefix

Arch- pref. A prefix signifying chief, as in archbuilder, archfiend.

suffix

-arch suff. A suffix meaning a ruler, as in monarch (a sole ruler).

See images of 'Arch'

Etymology of 'Arch'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Arch" Quotes from Famous Books

... joyous in tone. He could not remember that her hair was so soft and wavy at the temples, nor had it ever seemed to caress her ears so adorably. Why was it that he had never noticed the delicate arch of her eyebrows? Why had he failed to see the limpid sweetness in her eyes? And her hair, too, seemed to cling differently above the slim, round neck. What magic sculptor had chiseled her lips ...

— The Rose in the Ring • George Barr McCutcheon

... said, "the plectognaths, whose maxillary bone is firmly attached to the side of the intermaxillary that forms the jaw, and whose palate arch is locked to the skull by sutures that render the jaw immovable, an order lacking true pelvic fins and which consists of two families. Examples: ...

— 20000 Leagues Under the Seas • Jules Verne

... which his stately old-school courtesy never could resist. She used when we were children to beg for holidays, and get treats for us; and even now, many a request which we should never have dared to utter, she could, with her droll arch way, make him think the most sensible ...

— Lady Hester, or Ursula's Narrative • Charlotte M. Yonge

... reservoir are built entirely of concrete masonry. The floors are of inverted groined arches on which rest the piers for supporting the groined arch vaulting. All this concrete work is similar to that in the Albany, Philadelphia, and ...

— Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. LXXII, June, 1911 • E. D. Hardy

... on her, at the foot of the bed. She held her arms resting on the base board of the bed with her beautiful hands drooping. Her profile sloped downward slightly, that fine design, that delicate etching of eternal sweetness upon the gentle background of the evening. Under the dainty arch of her eyebrows her large eyes swam clear and pure, miniature skies. The exquisite skin of her cheeks and forehead gleamed faintly, and her luxuriant hair, which I had seen flowing, gracefully encircled her brow, where her thoughts dwelt invisible ...

— The Inferno • Henri Barbusse

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