Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A roof spout usually in the form of a grotesque or fantastic creature projecting from a gutter to carry rainwater clear of the wall.
- noun A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.
- noun A person of bizarre or grotesque appearance.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A spout projecting from the gutter of a building, or connected with it by an opening, for the purpose of carrying off the water clear from the wall.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Arch.) A spout projecting from the roof gutter of a building, often carved grotesquely.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
carved grotesque figure on aspout which conveys water away from thegutters . - noun Any
decorative carved grotesque figure on a building. - noun A
fictional winged creature. - noun slang, pejorative An
ugly woman.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an ornament consisting of a grotesquely carved figure of a person or animal
- noun a spout that terminates in a grotesquely carved figure of a person or animal
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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She had learned that the word gargoyle, from the French, was related to gargouille, which meant “gullet.”
The Poet Prince KATHLEEN MCGOWAN 2010
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In 1920s New York City, Professor Ernest Baxter, an expert in all things arcane; Mindy Markus, a scrappy flapper; and Roscoe, a gargoyle from the Bronx, are The Night Owls.
DC Comics for February 2010 | Major Spoilers - Comic Book Reviews and News 2009
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I'm not entirely sure this is a gargoyle from the French: to gargle as, to be one, it has to have a water spout in its mouth.
Archive 2009-09-01 TK 2009
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I'm not entirely sure this is a gargoyle from the French: to gargle as, to be one, it has to have a water spout in its mouth.
Roses are Blooming in Picardie TK 2009
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The origin of the word gargoyle and its use by the Church can be traced back to a 7th century dragon known in France as gargouille or Goji.
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Also, XUP informs me that the gargoyle is a candle holder as well; I always wondered what that hole was for.
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The gargoyle was a born storyteller, and he'd rarely had as appreciative an audience as Hosea.
Spirits White As Lightning Lackey, Mercedes 2001
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Behind the gargoyle was a door, presumably leading into the kitchen.
Myth Conceptions Asprin, Robert 1980
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With a few strokes of my mental paintbrush, I altered Gus's features until the gargoyle was the mirror image of myself.
Myth Conceptions Asprin, Robert 1980
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One interesting object in the show connecting Egyptian magic to Judeo-Christian tradition is a lion-headed "gargoyle" that most likely adorned a temple dating to the Late (525-332 B.C.) or Ptolemaic (332-30 B.C.) periods.
oroboros commented on the word gargoyle
Olive-flavored mouthwash. --Mensa word list winner 2006
March 2, 2007
sonofgroucho commented on the word gargoyle
I photographed some great gargoyles recently at the Cathedral in Barcelona. Notre Dame in Paris has got some good ones too.
November 4, 2007