See Also: baroque(dictionary)
Baroque (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)
Baroque architecture(encyclopedia)
Baroque period(encyclopedia)
baroque 1, adjective(dictionary)
baroque 2, noun(dictionary)
Baroque Churches of the Philippines(tourism)
Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto(tourism)

baroque (iou)



baroque adjective & noun. Orig. derog. Also Baroque. M18.
[French (in earliest use, of pearls) from Portuguese barroco, Spanish barrueco, (of architecture) Italian BAROCCO: ult. origin unkn.]
A. adjective.
Of, pertaining to, or characterized by an exuberant and ornate style prevalent in the arts (esp. in architecture and music) of the 17th and early 18th cents. Of a musical instrument etc.: belonging to or designed as in that period. M18.
W. D. Howells The building..coldly classic or frantically baroque. W. S. Maugham The sonorous periods and the baroque massiveness of Jacobean language. H. Read Michelangelo has been called the father of Baroque art, and the style can be actually traced to him. Encyclopedia Britannica The Baroque era reached its zenith in the work of Johann Sebastian Bach..and George Frideric Handel.
gen. Elaborately or grotesquely ornate; whimsical, bizarre. M19.
S. Spender The baroque extravagance, the ribbons and trimmings, of Tony's conversation.
Of a pearl: irregularly shaped. L19.
b. noun. (The style, music, or architecture of) the 17th and early 18th cents.; baroque ornamentation. L19.
J. N. Summerson At Blenheim the English Baroque culminates.