Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Pendant

PENDANT, in architecture (1) an ornament which is suspended from the roof of a Gothic or Tudor building; the hanging pendants of a vaulted ceiling, uniting solidity with ornament. There are some excellent samples in Henry VI.'s Chapel in Westminster Abbey, London. In vaulted roofs pendants are formed of stone, richly sculptured, and in timber work they are of wood carved. (2) A hanging keystone, the lower face of which projects beyond the intrados of the arch.

In art (in the plural), two pictures, statues, or groups of sculpture or engravings, which, from their similarity of subject, size, form, etc., can be placed together with due regard to symmetry. Nautically: (1) A strap or short rope depending from a mast-head, and having thimbles for bearing the blocks, which transmit the effects of tackles to distant points, etc. Used especially in setting up masts and rigging. (2) A pennant.