See Also: vignette(medicine)
Vignette(money)
Vignette(finance)
vignette(dictionary)
vignette(dictionary)

vignette (iou)



vignette noun & verb. As noun also (earlier) vinet. LME.
[Old & mod. French, dim. of vigne VINE: see -ET1, -ETTE.]
A. noun.
A usu. small decorative design or illustration on a blank space in a book etc., esp. at the beginning or end of a chapter or on the title page; spec. one not enclosed in a border, or with the edges shading off into the surrounding paper. Formerly also, an ornamental title page etc. containing various symbolic designs or figures. LME.
Architecture. A carved decoration representing the trailing tendrils, branches, or leaves of a vine. LME.
A photographic portrait showing only the head or the head and shoulders and with the edges gradually shading into the background. M19.
A brief descriptive account, anecdote, or essay; a character sketch; a short evocative episode in a play etc. L19.
b. verb trans.
Make a vignette of; spec. produce (a photograph) in the style of a vignette by softening away or shading off the edges of the subject. M19.
Graphics World These include the softly vignetted sunsets..of Japan.
Optics. Cause vignetting of an image. M20.
vignetter noun a device for producing photographic vignettes, usu. consisting of a mask or screen with a central hole or of graduated opacity from the centre outwards L19.
vignetting noun (a) rare = VIGNETTE noun 2; (b) the action or process of producing vignettes, esp. in photography; (c) Optics a darkening or loss of the periphery of an image, as a result of the blocking of some off-axis rays during their passage through the optical system: E17.
vignettist noun an artist or engraver who produces vignettes for books L19.