TAPER (probably of

See also:

• CELTIC

Celtic origin, cf. Irish tapar, Welsh tampr, taper,

See also:

• TORCH (O. Fr. torche, from Med. Lat. tortia, derived from tortus, twisted, torquere, to twist)

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