cornice

What it means

1. architectureA horizontal architectural element of a building, projecting forward from the main walls, originally used as a means of directing rainwater away from the building's walls.

   It is a large square structure, two and a half stories in height, with a hipped roof rising above a handsome cornice with prominent modillions and surmounted by a balustraded belvedere.

   1920, Frank Cousins, Phil M. Riley, The Colonial Architecture of Philadelphia, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company

2. architectureA decorative element applied at the topmost part of the wall of a room, as with a crown molding.

   Challenger looked up at the cornice and round at the skirting.

   1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “In which Challenger Meets a Strange Colleague”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019

   2 more examples

   That ceiling was covered with square compartments,[...] It was supported by a gilded cornice, carved into a thousand curious shapes and emblems, among which the horned wolf, the crest of the Avonleigh family, was conspicuous.

   1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 113

   The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. […] The bed was the most extravagant piece. Its graceful cane halftester rose high towards the cornice and was so festooned in carved white wood that the effect was positively insecure, as if the great couch were trimmed with icing sugar.

   1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

3. furnitureA decorative element at the topmost portion of certain pieces of furniture, as with a highboy.

   And blood was on the roof, and great gouts of blood on the walls and on the cornice of my bed.

   1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 18

In a sentence

It is a large square structure, two and a half stories in height, with a hipped roof rising above a handsome cornice with prominent modillions and surmounted by a balustraded belvedere.

1920, Frank Cousins, Phil M. Riley, The Colonial Architecture of Philadelphia, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company

Where it comes from

1. Ancient Greekκορωνίς
2. Latincoronis“curved line, flourish in writing”
3. Latincornīx“crow”
4. Italiancornice
5. Middle Frenchcorniche
6. Englishcornice

From Middle French corniche or Italian cornice, possibly from either (1) Latin cornīx (“crow”) or (2) Latin coronis (“curved line, flourish in writing”), from Ancient Greek κορωνίς (korōnís). See also corniche.