addorse

Etymology

See addorsed. Compare French adosser (and thence, Spanish adosar).

verb

  1. To place back-to-back, to place with the back to (something else's back).
    I replied (out of a former letter from your Lordship) with some marvel why this Signory did not by their own resident in England motion the matter to the resident there of the States rather than addorse it upon his Majesty. 1907, Logan Pearsall Smith, Sir Henry Wotton, The Life and Letters of Sir Henry Wotton, page 455
    ... arranged pairs of imaginary beasts; each faces a mirror-image counterpart along a “hind” axis. The band can thus be read in either of two ways and at the same time: as pairs of affronting and / or addorsing griffins. 1989-11-01, Howell Chickering, Thomas H Seiler, The Study of Chivalry: Resources and Approaches, ISD LLC, page 380
    Then there at the step, briskly addorsing themselves, the master swings back to the center and drains the scourings like a thirsty housewife as he tidies up his formal mess, while the butler returns his less hallowed vessels to the[…] 2015-04-01, Jonathan Bayliss, Gloucesterbook, Drawbridge Press
    The addorsing of a French Gothic outer portal to a Byzantine-style inner portal illustrates Genoa's position between west and east at a crossroads in the Mediterranean. Along the north wall of the cathedral, Byzantine-style frescoes of[…] 2018-03-12, A Companion to Medieval Genoa, BRILL, page 228
    In the spatial language of Hindu temple architecture and sculpture, addorsing can signify that the two items joined back-to-back are aspects of the same beings or principle. Here that arrangement sets up a figural and spatial analog of[…] 2021-03-05, Padma Kaimal, Opening Kailasanatha: The Temple in Kanchipuram Revealed in Time and Space, University of Washington Press, page 103

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