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TAPER (probably of Celtic origin, cf....

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 403 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TAPER (probably of See also:Celtic origin, cf. Irish tapar, Welsh tampr, taper, See also:torch)  , a smhll thin See also:candle of See also:tallow or See also:wax (see CANDLE); from itS See also:early shape, in which the circumference of the See also:top was smaller than that of the See also:base, the word came to be used in the sense of " slender," particularly of something diminishing in See also:size at one end . In See also:architecture the word is used of the See also:gradual diminishing of a See also:spire or See also:column as it rises . The spire tapers almost to a point, where it is terminated by a See also:finial or See also:vane: the column tapers only to a less See also:diameter at the top, and as a See also:general See also:rule the more See also:ancient the column the greater its diminution or See also:taper; thus in one of the early temples at See also:Selinus in See also:Sicily the upper diameter is about See also:half the See also:lower diameter, while in the See also:Parthenon it is about one-fifth .

End of Article: TAPER (probably of Celtic origin, cf. Irish tapar, Welsh tampr, taper, torch)
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