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Gothic

   Also found in: Acronyms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.01 sec.
Goth·ic  (gthk)
adj.
1.
a. Of or relating to the Goths or their language.
b. Germanic; Teutonic.
2. Of or relating to the Middle Ages; medieval.
3.
a. Of or relating to an architectural style prevalent in western Europe from the 12th through the 15th century and characterized by pointed arches, rib vaulting, and a developing emphasis on verticality and the impression of height.
b. Of or relating to an architectural style derived from medieval Gothic.
4. Of or relating to painting, sculpture, or other art forms prevalent in northern Europe from the 12th through the 15th century.
5. often gothic Of or relating to a style of fiction that emphasizes the grotesque, mysterious, and desolate.
6. gothic Barbarous; crude.
n.
1. The extinct East Germanic language of the Goths.
2. Gothic art or architecture.
3. often gothic Printing
a. See black letter.
b. See sans serif.
4. A novel in a style emphasizing the grotesque, mysterious, and desolate.

Gothi·cal·ly adv.
Word History: The combination Gothic romance represents a union of two of the major influences in the development of European culture, the Roman Empire and the Germanic tribes that invaded it. The Roman origins of romance must be sought in the etymology of that word, but we can see clearly that Gothic is related to the name Goth used for one of those invading Germanic tribes. The word Gothic, first recorded in 1611 in a reference to the language of the Goths, was extended in sense in several ways, meaning "Germanic," "medieval, not classical," "barbarous," and also an architectural style that was not Greek or Roman. Horace Walpole applied the word Gothic to his novel The Castle of Otranto, a Gothic Story (1765) in the sense "medieval, not classical." From this novel filled with scenes of terror and gloom in a medieval setting descended a literary genre still popular today; from its subtitle descended the name for it.

Gothic [ˈgɒθɪk]
adj
1. (Fine Arts & Visual Arts / Architecture) denoting, relating to, or resembling the style of architecture that was used in W Europe from the 12th to the 16th centuries, characterized by the lancet arch, the ribbed vault, and the flying buttress See also Gothic Revival
2. (Fine Arts & Visual Arts / Art Movements) of or relating to the style of sculpture, painting, or other arts as practised in W Europe from the 12th to the 16th centuries
3. (Literary & Literary Critical Movements) (sometimes not capital) of or relating to a literary style characterized by gloom, the grotesque, and the supernatural, popular esp in the late 18th century: when used of modern literature, films, etc., sometimes spelt: Gothick
4. (Historical Terms) of, relating to, or characteristic of the Goths or their language
5. (sometimes not capital) primitive and barbarous in style, behaviour, etc.
6. (Historical Terms) of or relating to the Middle Ages
7. (Music, other) another word for Goth [4]
n
1. (Fine Arts & Visual Arts / Architecture) Gothic architecture or art
2. (Linguistics / Languages) (Historical Terms) the extinct language of the ancient Goths, known mainly from fragments of a translation of the Bible made in the 4th century by Bishop Wulfila See also East Germanic
3. (Communication Arts / Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) Also called (esp Brit) black letter the family of heavy script typefaces
4. (Music, other) another word for Goth [3]
Gothically  adv

Gothicism, Gothic
the general term employed to denote the several phases of European architecture in the period 1100-1530 that employ the pointed arch, or their imitations.
See also: Architecture
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.Gothic - extinct East Germanic language of the ancient Goths; the only surviving record being fragments of a 4th-century translation of the Bible by Bishop Ulfilas
East Germanic, East Germanic language - an extinct branch of the Germanic languages
2.Gothic - a heavy typeface in use from 15th to 18th centuries
font, fount, typeface, face, case - a specific size and style of type within a type family
3.GothicGothic - a style of architecture developed in northern France that spread throughout Europe between the 12th and 16th centuries; characterized by slender vertical piers and counterbalancing buttresses and by vaulting and pointed arches
architectural style, style of architecture, type of architecture - architecture as a kind of art form
English-Gothic, English-Gothic architecture, perpendicular style, perpendicular - a Gothic style in 14th and 15th century England; characterized by vertical lines and a four-centered (Tudor) arch and fan vaulting
Adj.1.Gothic - characteristic of the style of type commonly used for printing German
2.Gothic - of or relating to the language of the ancient Goths; "the Gothic Bible translation"
3.Gothic - of or relating to the Goths; "Gothic migrations"
4.gothic - as if belonging to the Middle Ages; old-fashioned and unenlightened; "a medieval attitude toward dating"
nonmodern - not modern; of or characteristic of an earlier time
5.gothic - characterized by gloom and mystery and the grotesque; "gothic novels like `Frankenstein'"
literature - creative writing of recognized artistic value
strange, unusual - being definitely out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird; "a strange exaltation that was indefinable"; "a strange fantastical mind"; "what a strange sense of humor she has"
Translations
Gothic [ˈgɒθɪk]
A. ADJ [race] → godo (Archit, Typ) → gótico; [novel etc] → gótico
B. N (Archit, Ling etc) → gótico m
Gothic [ˈgɒθɪk] adjgothique
Gothic
adj
people, language, script, letteringgotisch
(Art) → gotisch; the Gothic agedas Zeitalter der Gotik; Gothic Revival (Archit) → Neugotik f; Gothic Revival architectureneugotische Architektur
(Liter: = horror) → schaurig; a Gothic storyeine Schauergeschichte; Gothic (horror) novelSchauerroman m
n
(Archit) → Gotik f
(= language)Gotisch nt
(Typ) → Gotisch nt; (US) → Grotesk f
Gothic [ˈgɒθɪk] adjgotico/a
Gothic [ˈgɒθɪk] adjgotico/a


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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
These Greek capitals, black with age, and quite deeply graven in the stone, with I know not what signs peculiar to Gothic caligraphy imprinted upon their forms and upon their attitudes, as though with the purpose of revealing that it had been a hand of the Middle Ages which had inscribed them there, and especially the fatal and melancholy meaning contained in them, struck the author deeply.
I highly commended it, I think it was the smallest house I ever saw; with the queerest gothic windows (by far the greater part of them sham), and a gothic door, almost too small to get in at.
As they drew near the end of their journey, her impatience for a sight of the abbey -- for some time suspended by his conversation on subjects very different -- returned in full force, and every bend in the road was expected with solemn awe to afford a glimpse of its massy walls of grey stone, rising amidst a grove of ancient oaks, with the last beams of the sun playing in beautiful splendour on its high Gothic windows.
 
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