sexfoiln.adj.
/ˈsɛksfɔɪl/, U.S. /ˈsɛksˌfɔɪl/ Chiefly Architecture and Heraldry.
A. n.
An ornamental design having six leaves or lobes radiating from a common centre; = sixfoil n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > architecture > architectural ornament > [noun] > ornamentation by foils > specific number of foils
sexfoil1688
quatrefoil1805
cinquefoil1816
septfoil1819
trefoil head1825
multifoil1835
polyfoil1842
septemfoil1842
trefoil1842
sixfoil1849
four-foil1860
octofoil1867
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. iv. 60 He beareth Argent, a Sexfoile, or a Sisefoile, Sable.
1828–40 W. Berry Encycl. Her. I. Sexfoil, or Sisefoil, is a grass, or flower, with six leaves, formed like the cinquefoil which has five.
1851 A. W. Pugin Chancel Screens 85 With images of angels in sexfoils.
1910 Times 3 Oct. 13/5 Within a sunk sexfoil is engraved a figure of our Lord, seated, with his hand raised in benediction.
1970 N. Pevsner Cambridgeshire (Buildings of Eng.) (ed. 2) 346 In the spandrels above the windows are sunk quatrefoils, sexfoils, etc.
1998 Advertiser (Adelaide) (Nexis) 13 Aug. Steel provides the medium of choice for Sue Lorraine's minimalist and Japanese Sexfoils.
B. adj.
Having the shape of a sexfoil; six-leaved, six-lobed.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > architecture > architectural ornament > [adjective] > foiled
cinquefoil1752
trefoil1752
quatrefoil1776
trefoiled1815
cinquefoiled1823
quatrefoiled1834
foiled1835
foliating1835
quatrefoliated1835
trefoliated1835
foliated1838
septfoil1844
sexfoil1846
sexfoiled1846
multifoil1849
trifoliated1850
multifoiled1851
trefoil-headed1861
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > ornamental art and craft > pattern or design > [adjective] > foils
trefoiledc1420
cinquefoil1752
cinquefoiled1823
octofoil1844
octofoiled1844
septfoil1844
sexfoil1846
quinquefoil1909
1846 C. Thomas Sketches for Ecclesiol. of Deaneries Sparham & Taverham (new ed.) 162 The piscina has a sexfoil orifice.
1862 Gentleman's Mag. 22 291 The clerestory windows, as at Santa Maria Novella and the Minerva, are circular, but in this instance enriched with sexfoil cusping.
1906 Proc. Soc. Antiq. 6 Dec. 261 The chalice is 59/ 16 inches high, with a sexfoil foot.
1952 Times 4 June 2/5 This Commonwealth cup..is of sexfoil form.
2000 Heritage Feb. 68/1 Sexfoil in plan, it was built as a formidable gun emplacement... The six semi-circular bastions swell out from the circular tower like the petals of a flower.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1688