gargoyle
(ˈgɑːgɔɪl)
Forms: 5 gargulye, -gulle, -goill, -goyl, -gayle, pl. gargouys, 5–6 gargyle, 6 -gylle, -gille, -gell(e, gargle, (gargyne), 6–7 gargel, -gil, 7 gargile, 5, 9 gargoyle, 9 gurgoyl(e, (gurgayle).
[a. OF. gargouille (also gargoule, gargole, recorded in 13th c.) = Sp. gargola; app. a special sense of gargouille throat (cf. gargil1, gargle v.), from the water passing through the mouths of the figures. The form gurgoyle is perhaps due to the influence of med.L. gurgulio.]
1. A grotesque spout, representing some animal or human figure, projecting from the gutter of a building (esp. in Gothic architecture), in order to carry the rain-water clear of the walls.
| 13.. S. Erkenwald 48 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 267 Hit was a throghe of thykke stone..With gargeles garnysht aboute, all of gray marbre. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy. ii. xi, And euery hous keuered was with lede And many gargoyl, and many hidous hede. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 186/2 Gargulye, yn a walle, gorgona, gurgulio. 1548 Hall Chron. (1809) 511 Out of the Mouthes of certain beastes or gargels did runne red, white, and claret wine. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 552 His inuention it was to set vp Gargils or Antiques at the top of a Gauill end, as a finiall to the crest tiles. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 66 It is also of excellent use to Statuaries, for making Moddels, Gargills, or Anticks. 1847 Handbk. Engl. Ecclesiology 185 Gurgoyles. 1851 Longfellow Gold. Leg. i, The spouts and gargoyles of these towers. 1883 Stevenson Silverado Sq. 81 A rusty iron chute on wooden legs came flying, like a monstrous gargoyle, across the parapet. |
| fig. 1864 C. M. Yonge Trial II. 233 Ethel here has too much sense; and that's what makes her such a dear old gurgoyle. 1875 Tennyson Q. Mary i. iii, This old gaping gurgoyle [said of a priest]. 1889 Spectator 14 Dec. 841 Browning..habitually uses it for this purpose—to carve verbal gurgoyles, grotesque figures of speech. |
b. transf. A projection resembling a gargoyle.
| 1887 Hall Caine Deemster ii. (1888) 9 A tall brass candlestick with gruesome gargoyles carved on the base. |
2. attrib., as
gargoyle-face,
gargoyle-head;
gargoyle-faced adj.| 1528 Roy Rede Me (Arb.) 54 What is it to se dogges and cattes Gargell heddes and Cardinall hattes Paynted on walles with moche cost. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 354/2 The bare vgly gargyle faces of their abhominable heresie. 1581 J. Studley tr. Seneca's Hippolitus 60 b, Of ougly gargle-faced bigger Beare. 1848 Archæol. Cambrensis Ser. i. III. 220 Above the window runs a string course, with gurgoyl heads. 1886 H. F. Lester Under two Fig Trees 138, I felt disposed to pity her..despite her gurgoyle face. |
Hence
ˈgargoyled a., ornamented with gargoyles.
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. 15 [A tower] Gargeyld with gray-houndes and with many lyons. 1864 Longfellow Divina Comm. Sonnet ii, Fiends and dragons on the gargoyled eaves Watch the dead Christ between the living thieves. |