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views updated Jun 11 2018

apse, apsis (pl. apses, apsides). Recess, generally semicircular on plan, and vaulted, projecting from an external wall, the interior forming a large, deep volume. It is often a feature terminating the nave of a basilica, containing the high altar. Apses forming chapels were built on the eastern sides of transepts of larger churches (e.g. Lincoln Cathedral), and some, termed apse-chapels, were arranged round a semicircular apse-aisle or ambulatory as in the complex chevet form of larger French churches. Some apses are canted rather than curved on plan.

A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture JAMES STEVENS CURL

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views updated May 18 2018

apse / aps/ • n. 1. a large semicircular or polygonal recess in a church, arched or with a domed roof, typically at the eastern end, and usually containing the altar.2. another term for apsis.DERIVATIVES: ap·si·dal / ˈapsidl/ adj.

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English

APSE

views updated Jun 11 2018

APSE Acronym for Ada programming support environment. The PSE that was intended to be used for software development using Ada.

A Dictionary of Computing JOHN DAINTITH

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views updated May 29 2018

apse a large semicircular or polygonal recess in a church, arched or with a domed roof and typically at the church's eastern end. Recorded from the early 19th century, the word comes from Latin apsis (denoting in the early 17th century the orbit of a planet), from Greek apsis, hapsis ‘arch, vault’, perhaps from haptein ‘fasten, join’).

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ELIZABETH KNOWLES

Apse

views updated May 14 2018

Apse (Gk., apsis). The rounded end of a church, especially in Greek Orthodoxy: it is derived from the Constaninian basilicas which incorporated the pagan apsis where judges and legal advisers sat.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions JOHN BOWKER

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views updated May 29 2018

apse arched or domed recess in a church. XIX (in L. - Gr. form apsis XVIII). — L. apsis, apsid- — Gr. hapsís vault, etc.
Hence apsidal XIX.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology T. F. HOAD

apsidiole

views updated May 18 2018

apsidiole. Apse-chapel, or small apsidal chapel projecting from a larger apse.

A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture JAMES STEVENS CURL

APSE

views updated Jun 11 2018

APSE (æps) Computing Ada programming support environment

The Oxford Dictionary of Abbreviations FRAN ALEXANDER , PETER BLAIR , JOHN DAINTITH , ALICE GRANDISON , VALERIE ILLINGWORTH , ELIZABETH MARTIN , ANNE STIBBS , JUDY PEARSALL , and SARA TULLOCH