31 December 2013
ionic (1)
[ahy-on-ik]
adjective
1. of or pertaining to ions.
2. pertaining to or occurring in the form of ions.
ionic (2)
[ahy-on-ik]
adjective
1. Architecture . noting or pertaining to one of the five classical orders that in ancient Greece consisted of a fluted column with a molded base and a capital composed of four volutes, usually parallel to the architrave with a pulvinus connecting a pair on each side of the column, and an entablature typically consisting of an architrave of three fascias, a richly ornamented frieze, and a cornice corbeled out on egg-and-dart and dentil moldings, with the frieze sometimes omitted. Roman and Renaissance examples are often more elaborate, and usually set the volutes of the capitals at 45° to the architrave. Compare composite ( def 3 ) , Corinthian ( def 2 ) , Doric ( def 3 ) , Tuscan ( def 2 ) . See illus. under order, volute.
2. Prosody . noting or employing a foot consisting either of two long followed by two short syllables (greater Ionic) or of two short followed by two long syllables (lesser Ionic)
3. noting or pertaining to that variety of the eastern branch of the early greek alphabet that was used for the writing of the Ionic dialect and that became the variety used for all dialects of Greek from the 4th century b.c. to the present.
4. of or pertaining to Ionia or the Ionians.
noun
5. Prosody . an Ionic foot, verse, or meter.
6. the dialect of ancient Greek spoken in Euboea, the Cyclades, and on the mainland of Asia Minor at Miletus and elsewhere.
7. Trademark. a style of printing type.
Origin:
1555–65; < Latin Iōnicus < Greek Iōnikós of Ionia; see -ic
Related forms
non-I·on·ic, adjective, noun
anagram
i icon
Today’s aphorism
Hate. It has caused a lot of problems in this world, but it has not solved one yet.
– Maya Angelou
On this day
31 December 1948 – birth of Disco star, Donna Summer. Died 17 May 2012.
31 December 1967 – Evel Knievel unsuccessfully attempts a motorcycle jump over the fountains of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. He received concussion and numerous broken bones, which left him in a coma for 29 days.
31 December 2007 – Murder statistics in the United States reveal that murder rate is 0.055 per head of population, which is slightly less than it was in 1947, when the rate was 0.0551. The population in 1947 was 145,000,000 and there were 8,000 murders. In 2007, the population was 300,000,000 and there were 16,500 murders.