baluster

• ballister, balluster (obsolete)
• balustre (Commonwealth)

From Middle French balustre, from Italian balaustro (“pillar”), from balausta (“wild pomegranate flower”), so named because of resemblance to the swelling form of the half-open flower, from Ancient Greek βαλαύστιον (balaústion), from Semitic (compare Aramaic balatz (“wild pomegranate flower”)). Doublet of banister.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbæl.ʌ.stɹ/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ælʌstɹ

baluster (plural balusters)

1. (architecture) A short column used in a group to support a rail, as commonly found on the side of a stairway; a banister. [from 17th c.]
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind.

   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 17, in The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

     Nick looked at the floor, and at the rhythm of the black-and-gilt S-shaped balusters.

• banister

• balustrade

• James A. H. Murray [et al.], editors (1884–1928), “Baluster”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volumes I (A–B), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 644, column 3.

• Albertus, Breaults, balustre, bluestar, rustable

Borrowed from French balustre, from Latin balaustium, from Ancient Greek βαλαύστιον (balaústion).

baluster c (singular definite balusteren, plural indefinite balustere)

1. baluster

• “baluster” in Den Danske Ordbog

Borrowed from French balustre, from Latin balaustium, from Ancient Greek βαλαύστιον (balaústion).

• IPA^(key): /ˌbaː.lys.ˈtɛr/

• Audio

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• Hyphenation: ba‧lus‧ter

baluster m (plural balusters, diminutive balustertje n)

1. (architecture) baluster

Borrowed from French balustre, from Latin balaustium, from Ancient Greek βαλαύστιον (balaústion).

baluster c

1. (architecture) a baluster (a short column used in a group to support a rail)

• balustrad