Arabesque

(ăr'a-bĕsk), n. [Fr. arabesque, from Lat. Arabicus, Arabian.] A species of ornament used for enriching flat surfaces, either painted, inlaid in mosaic, or carved in low relief. It consists of a fanciful and ideal mixture of all sorts of figures of men and animals, real and imaginary, often truncated and growing out of plants; also all sorts of plants, fruits, and foliage, involved and twisted, and upon which the animals and other objects rest. In the purest style of Arabesque, figures of animals were excluded, as forbidden by the Koran.