finial

plural finials

1. architectureEspecially in Gothic architecture: an ornament, often in the form of a bunch or knot of foliage, on the peak of the gable of a roof, a pediment, a pinnacle, etc.

   The steep slate roofs were topped with bronze finials so tall and fanciful they looked like drops of liquid sliding down a thread.

   2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 3, in The Line of Beauty […], 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 54

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   His [Butades'] invention it vvas to ſet up Gargils or Antiques at the top of a Gavill end, as a finiall to the creſt tiles, vvhich in the beginning he called Protypa.

   1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXXV.] The First Devisers of the Art of Potterie, and in Working in Cley. Of Images Made of Earth. Of Earthen Vessels, and Their Value in Old Time.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 552

   From this fair Palace then he takes his Front, / From that his Finials; […] / And ſo, ſelecting euery vvhere the beſt, / Doth thirty Models in one Houſe digeſt.

   1608, [Guillaume de Salluste] Du Bartas, “[Du Bartas His First Week, or Birth of the World: […].] The First Daie of the First Week.”, in Josuah Sylvester, transl., Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and Workes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Humfrey Lownes [and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson […]], published 1611, →OCLC, page 7

   [O]f that money vvhich aroſe of their amercements, vvere certain gilded ſhields made, vvhich vvere ſet up on the finial or lantern of Jupiters Temple.

   1659, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “[Book XXXV]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] W. Hunt, for George Sawbridge, […], →OCLC, page 716

   Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges; hence the conclusion of such a narration is apt to be less finished than an architectural finial.

   1888–1891, Herman Melville, “[Billy Budd, Foretopman.] Chapter XXIV.”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, →OCLC, page 300

2. broadlyAny decorative fitting on the corner, end, or top of an object such as a canopy, a fencepost, a flagpole, a curtain rod, or the newel post of a staircase.

   For several years, the finial was missing, and its replica replacement will save the wooden post from rotting.

   2021 September 22, “A Signal Survivor from the 1800s”, in Rail, number 940, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 82

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   The finial is also of timber (probably oak) and is of the rather elaborate type, originally favoured by the London & South Western Railway for its timber masts.

   1947 January–February, “Notes and News: An Unusual Signal at Mottisfont, S.R.”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 55

   It was a narrow, gravelled island we had to lie on, guarded by glazed brick chimneys and, running along the sides, a prickly little gothic fence of iron finials and terracotta quatrefoils.

   1988, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 7, in The Swimming-Pool Library, London: Vintage, published 1998, →ISBN, page 142

   Mark Twain called the cherimoya "deliciousness itself," though others have described this heart-shaped, fist-sized fruit with pale-green leathery skin as "reptilian," like a "fossil artichoke" or "the finial for a giant four-poster bed."

   1994 January 12, David Karp, “Once considered exotic, some fruits become family”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 30 Oct 2021

   He says there's a very particular etiquette to having your flag at half-mast: you're supposed to first run it all the way up to the finial at the top and then bring it halfway down.

   2005, David Foster Wallace, “The View from Mrs. Thompson’s”, in Consider the Lobster and Other Essays, New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, published 2006, →ISBN, page 129

3. alsoattributivefigurativelyThe completion or end of something.

   But, as the Phœnix on my Front doth gliſter, / Thou ſhalt the Finials of my Frame illuſtre.

   1608, [Guillaume de Salluste] Du Bartas, “[Du Bartas His First Week, or Birth of the World: […].] The Fift Daie of the First Week.”, in Josuah Sylvester, transl., Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and Workes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Humfrey Lownes [and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson […]], published 1611, →OCLC, page 140

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   [T]hey have invented idols, a manifest advance toward that polytheism and pantheism which lead through a triad and duad of deities to monotheism, the finial of the spiritual edifice.

   1876, Richard F[rancis] Burton, “The Minor Tribes and the Mpongwe”, in Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo. […], part I (The Gaboon River and Gorilla Land), London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, and Searle, […], →OCLC, page 96

   […] Lancelot Carnaby stopped from his rash venture into the water, and drew himself back into an ivied bush, which served as the finial of the little garden-hedge.

   1880, R[ichard] D[oddridge] Blackmore, “Battery and Assumpsit”, in Mary Anerley. A Yorkshire Tale. […], volume III, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, […], →OCLC, page 33