Definition of "rosette" [ro•sette]

• An ornament or badge made of ribbon or silk that is pleated or gathered to resemble a rose and is used to decorate clothing or is worn in the buttonhole of civilian dress to indicate the possession of certain medals or honors. (noun)
• A roselike marking or formation, such as one of the clusters of spots on a leopard's fur. (noun)
• Architecture A painted, carved, or sculptured ornament having a circular arrangement of parts radiating out from the center and suggesting the petals of a rose. (noun)
• Botany A circular cluster of leaves that radiate from a center at or close to the ground, as in the dandelion. (noun)
• An ornamental circular band surrounding the central hole of an acoustic guitar. (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.

• "-- It is worked at the same time both round the bosom and sleeves. 1st round: * 1 double in the centre purl of the 1st scallop of the rosette, which we will call the _first rosette_; 5 chain,"
• "In the second example the rosette is substituted for the inner curves of the spiral, and the intermediate space is filled in with the true lotus motive."
• "The rosette is Egyptian; and the honeysuckle, which Mr. Petrie has identified as a florid variety of the lotus pattern, (44) is also distinctly Egyptian."