baluster
/ˈbaləstə
/noun
1A short decorative pillar forming part of a series supporting a rail or coping.Here, too were the louvres, the broad-based wooden benches, the curvilinear balusters supporting rails around polished wooden platforms....
- The vertical posts are called rails or balusters if it is a balcony.
- Mold-making polyurethane is an economical substitute for silicone or latex to cast decorative concrete tabletops, balusters, or replicas of natural rocks and boulders.
1.1 [as modifier] (Of a furniture leg or other decorative item) having the form of a baluster: baluster legs in English oak...
- The stand, with its baluster legs and serpentine stretcher, is also japanned and similar to other European designs of this period.
- The front legs on virtually all of these chairs have small baluster turnings atop heavy tapered legs that terminate in pad feet on little disks.
- He shows an earlier type of candlestick of baluster form spreading downwards into a deep drip tray with a squat cinched base.
Origin
Early 17th century: from French balustre, from Italian balaustro, from balaust(r)a 'wild pomegranate flower' (via Latin from Greek balaustion), so named because part of the pillar resembles the curving calyx tube of the flower.