Uncial

(ŭn'shal), a. [Lat. uncialis, amounting to the twelfth part of a pound or a foot, from uncia, the twelfth part of a pound or a foot, an ounce, an inch; Fr. uncial, onciale, Sp. uncial.] Of, pertaining to, or denoting, a species of character of a large size, compounded between the capital and smaller characters, some of the letters resembling the former, and others the latter. It is supposed to have been employed in Latin manuscripts as early as the third or fourth century, and was seldom used after the tenth. Brande.