Definition of "entablature" [en•tab•la•ture]

• The upper section of a classical building, resting on the columns and constituting the architrave, frieze, and cornice. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "On the entablature is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, who inaugurated Sir Richard Gresham's structure -- the centre figure of a number of others emblematic of the all-embracing commerce of this country, and surmounted by the words: 'The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.'"
• "Pl. LXVI -- the lower drawing on the right hand side -- the sarcophagus is shown between the columns, and above the entablature is a plinth on which the horse stands."
• "The medallion of Pierre Corneille is sculptured on the entablature which is supported by these columns, and on each side of the medallion, we perceive Melpomene with a dagger, and Thalia with a mask."