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small spire, -- used to finish a buttress, to constitute a part in a proportion, as where pinnacles flank a gable or spire, and the like. Pinnacles may be considered primarily as added weight, where it is necessary to resist the thrust of an arch, etc. Some renowned metropolis With glistering spires and pinnacles aroun…

tal finishing which surmounts the ridge of a roof, canopy, etc. The finials of gables and pinnacles are sometimes called crest. Parker.

The knot or bunch of foliage, or foliated ornament, that forms the upper extremity of a pinnacle in Gothic architecture; sometimes, the pinnacle itself.

Any boldly projecting sculptured ornament; esp., the ornamental termination of a pinnacle, and then synonymous with finial; -- called also knob, and knosp. Knop sedge (Bot.), the bur reed (Sparganium); - - so called from its globular clusters of seed vessels. Prior.

Any slender, pointed object, like a needle, as a pointed crystal, a sharp pinnacle of rock, an obelisk, etc. Dipping needle. See under Dipping. -- Needle bar, the reciprocating bar to which the needle of a sewing machine is attached. -- Needle beam (Arch.), to shoring, the horizontal cross timber which goes through t…

A pinnacle. [R.] Sir W. Scott.

One of turrets or pinnacles of waxwork and tapers with which the posts and center of a funeral hearse were formerly crowned. Oxf. Gloss.

A pinnacle of ice among the crevasses of a glacier; also, one of the blocks into which a glacier breaks on a steep grade.

edral; the tapering part of a steeple, or the steeple itself. "With glistering spires and pinnacles adorned." Milton. A spire of land that stand apart, Cleft from the main. Tennyson. Tall spire from which the sound of cheerful bells Just undulates upon the listening ear. Cowper.

urnt out, and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. Shak. Above the tiptoe pinnacle of glory. Byron.

High-pointed hill; a rocky pinnacle. [Prov. Eng.] A rolling range of dreary moors, unbroken by tor or tree. C. Kingsley.