Also 9 frontoon. [a. Fr. fronton, ad. It. frontone, f. fronte FRONT.]
1. Arch. A pediment.
1698. M. Lister, Journ. Paris (1699), 42. There are two Stones in the Fronton of the South East Facade of the Louvre.
1711. Bailey, Fronton [in Architecture] is a Member which serves to compose an Ornament, raised over Doors, Cross-works, Nitches, etc.
1802. W. Taylor, in Robberds, Mem., I. 417. Every architrave and window-sill of the long and regular palace of the Tuileries was thickly dotted with these arches,—every frontoon and arch regularly framed with them.
1850. Leitch, trans. Müller’s Anc. Art, § 284. 314. In the small temple of Artemis at Eleusis, where the sima has a very fine profile, it stands more upright over the fronton and inclines forward more above the side-walls, which is not less fitting than agreeable.
1894. Daily News, 9 Oct., 5/3. One of the curiosities of Paris is the bas-relief on the fronton of the east side of the Louvre over the colonnade.
2. Of an altar: = FRONTAL sb. 2.
1749. U. ap Rhys, Tour Spain & Portugal (1760), 83. An exceeding rich Altar, the Fronton of which is of Brass gilt.
ǁ 3. [Sp.] A building where pelota is played.
1896. Westm. Gaz., 23 April, 7/1. The great objection to the popularity of pelota over here is the expense of the fronton or court.
1896. Daily Chron., 16 May, 9/4. A fronton epidemic broke out in Madrid.
