# What's the word? It's not a bay, not a turret, not a copula, not a bow, not an oriel **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 3, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-its-not-a-bay-not-a-turret-not-a-copula-not-a-bow-not-an-oriel/491810 "2009-04-03T04:17:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![whatstheword](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/49beb7/32.png) [@whatstheword](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whatstheword)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-its-not-a-bay-not-a-turret-not-a-copula-not-a-bow-not-an-oriel/491810/21 "2009-04-04T18:47:38Z")
Thanks so much! I did run across the term Belvedere, but that’s not once I ever heard before I went searching for the mystery term. 🙂 I too love the classic Victorian homes. So INTERESTING! Nooks and interesting features everywhere. Even the closets were different and creative. Thanks for your help! > [@Hakuna\_Matata](#): > > I am glad you liked the photos–beautiful homes in my opinion, although I know many people think they are too much. But I enjoy them. > > As to your question–I have always called them towers or turrets. It isn’t a Gazebo or a Pavilion because it is not freestanding. A Belvedere could be a turret, so is that the term? > > Sorry I couldn’t be more help. I will think about it and if I get time ask a friend or two. Perhaps we can come up with the term. ---
**Author:** ![whatstheword](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/49beb7/32.png) [@whatstheword](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whatstheword)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-its-not-a-bay-not-a-turret-not-a-copula-not-a-bow-not-an-oriel/491810/22 "2009-04-04T18:49:56Z")
GREAT STORY! Thanks for sharing it! > [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > This reminds me of a short story I read a long time ago. It was about a rich girl who took a walk and ended up in a poor neighborhood. She was fascinated with the poor family and the kids she met. Not because they were poor, but because they seemed so rich to her. They had toys and wonderful things all over the front yard. They got to eat delicious food like hot dogs. And all this other stuff that seemed like the children must be so rich and so lucky. > > Anyway, one of the things the kids did was go upstairs to play in the “MYSTERY WORD”. I am almost positive they used the word you’re looking for to describe the upper part of that thing. It was an old, dilapitated Victorian house so the top of the “MYSTERY WORD” was leaning and unstable. It was dangerous, but the kids enjoyed playing and jumping up there. > I dont know why I remember that, or why I can’t remember the name of the story, but there you go. ---
**Author:** ![whatstheword](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/49beb7/32.png) [@whatstheword](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whatstheword)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-its-not-a-bay-not-a-turret-not-a-copula-not-a-bow-not-an-oriel/491810/23 "2009-04-04T18:53:00Z")
Thanks for your response. No, not belfry, but like you, I can see how people may use a term like that to describe our two-story bay. > [@Fubaya](#): > > Belfry? Although I don’t think that would be a correct term, I can see it being used. ---
**Author:** ![whatstheword](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/49beb7/32.png) [@whatstheword](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whatstheword)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-its-not-a-bay-not-a-turret-not-a-copula-not-a-bow-not-an-oriel/491810/24 "2009-04-04T19:01:26Z")
You are so nice to try so hard!!! Conservatory isn’t it either. I remember as a child thinking the word didn’t seem to fit the feature. I remember thinking it was an ungly word for such a pretty thing. > [@Hakuna\_Matata](#): > > Okay, consensus among my architectural friends was Tower or Turret. But one person came up with Conservatory and that might be what you are thinking? It is a glass enclosed structure, often circular in shape. > > So is it a Conservatory? ---
**Author:** ![Stana\_Claus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stana_claus/32/13874_2.png) [@Stana\_Claus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stana_Claus)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-its-not-a-bay-not-a-turret-not-a-copula-not-a-bow-not-an-oriel/491810/25 "2009-04-05T02:34:37Z")
Looking into castle terminology brings up the possibilities of apse, bartizan, and maybe bastion. Any of those ring a bell? ---
**Author:** ![sue91353](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sue91353](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sue91353)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-its-not-a-bay-not-a-turret-not-a-copula-not-a-bow-not-an-oriel/491810/26 "2013-06-10T20:27:11Z")
“mirador?” chiefly used in Spanish architecture. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2013, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-its-not-a-bay-not-a-turret-not-a-copula-not-a-bow-not-an-oriel/491810/27 "2013-06-10T20:50:56Z")
Solarium? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-its-not-a-bay-not-a-turret-not-a-copula-not-a-bow-not-an-oriel/491810/28 "2013-06-10T20:59:16Z")
I think it must be oriel after all. Wait, I must be confusing that with oriole, because the bird is the word. ---
**Author:** ![Kiwi\_Fruit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiwi_fruit/32/12_2.png) [@Kiwi\_Fruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiwi_Fruit)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-its-not-a-bay-not-a-turret-not-a-copula-not-a-bow-not-an-oriel/491810/29 "2013-06-10T23:47:59Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I think it must be oriel after all. Wait, I must be confusing that with oriole, because the bird is the word. But an oriel doesn’t reach to the ground. That’s one of its defining features. I think it’s a tower. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2013, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-its-not-a-bay-not-a-turret-not-a-copula-not-a-bow-not-an-oriel/491810/30 "2013-06-11T04:15:39Z")
I like this zombie because I haven’t thought of the word “belvedere” for years and years, after having first learned it from [Escher](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belvedere_(M._C._Escher)). Any architects out there can rig up a physical one by examining [these methods](http://www.cs.technion.ac.il/~gershon/EscherForReal/) (the physical Belvedere model is in the middle of the page). ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2013, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-its-not-a-bay-not-a-turret-not-a-copula-not-a-bow-not-an-oriel/491810/31 "2013-06-11T12:13:35Z")
In any case, Comet Whatstheword is not likely to return. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-its-not-a-bay-not-a-turret-not-a-copula-not-a-bow-not-an-oriel/491810/32 "2013-06-11T20:00:16Z")
I got it. I was Capt. Whatstheword in the Tower with a Thesaurus! ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-its-not-a-bay-not-a-turret-not-a-copula-not-a-bow-not-an-oriel/491810/33 "2013-06-12T22:46:28Z")
This thread is so old they’re probably back in style now. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-its-not-a-bay-not-a-turret-not-a-copula-not-a-bow-not-an-oriel/491810/34 "2013-06-12T23:04:53Z")
zombie or no whatever they’re called. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2013, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-its-not-a-bay-not-a-turret-not-a-copula-not-a-bow-not-an-oriel/491810/35 "2013-06-13T02:54:48Z")
Zombie threadspotters! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![SpyOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SpyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpyOne)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2013, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-its-not-a-bay-not-a-turret-not-a-copula-not-a-bow-not-an-oriel/491810/36 "2013-06-13T06:38:56Z")
We always called them turrets. However, I am fairly sure I have heard them referred to as merlons. I grew up around a great many Victorian homes, and have been told that, owing to the great fire that consumed much of San Francisco in the early 20th century, there were more Victorian houses per-square-mile in Willimantic Connecticut than anywhere else on earth, owing to a huge boom in the local economy brought by the railroads at just the time such architecture was in vogue. Most of them have been carved up internally into apartments, often in comical ways (a bathroom in what clearly was once a closet, a living room that is clearly half of a larger room, the rest of which is in the apartment next door, stairs that are narrow and steep, a bedroom that appears to have begun life as a porch). but they still stand and look lovely from the outside. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-its-not-a-bay-not-a-turret-not-a-copula-not-a-bow-not-an-oriel/491810/37 "2013-06-18T03:37:43Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Zombie threadspotters! :eek: Yeah, I was hoping a notice would go to his old e-mail (if he still has it) so we could know if any of the later posted words matched his spotty memory. Alas Alackaday ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-its-not-a-bay-not-a-turret-not-a-copula-not-a-bow-not-an-oriel/491810.md?page=1)