guilloche

Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • noun An ornament in the form of two or more bands or strings twisted over each other in a continued series, leaving circular openings which are filled with round ornaments.
  • noun In ornamental art, any pattern made by interlacing curved lines.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  • verb To decorate with intersecting curved lines, or with any pattern composed of curved lines.
  • noun An ornamental pattern composed of intersecting curved lines, as the usual decoration of watch-cases; in architecture, an ornament in the form of two or more bands or ribbons interlacing or braided or twisted over each other so as to repeat the same figure in a continued series of spirals. The term is applied, but improperly, to a fret.

Examples

Note

The word 'guilloche' comes from French, from the name of the tool used in making the ornamentation; possibly from the name Guillot, the inventor of a machine for carving it.