opus spicatum

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin opus spīcātum (literally “spiked work”), from the resemblance to the interlocking patterns of grain spikes.

Noun

opus spicatum (uncountable)

  1. (Ancient Rome) Herringbone masonry.
    Synonym: spicatum
    • 1910, M. P. Willcocks, transl., chapter VI, in Frederic Chapman, editor, The Wicker Work Woman: A Chronicle of Our Own Times‎[1], translation of Le Mannequin d'osier by Anatole France:
      One sees in it a pediment in the Empire style on a Jesuit portico; it has rusticated galleries, colonnades like those of the Louvre, Renaissance staircases, Gothic halls, and a Roman crypt. If one were to expose the foundations, one would come upon opus spicatum and Roman cement.

Further reading

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