English

Noun

severy ‎(plural severies)

1. A baldacchin.
2. (architecture) A compartment of a vaulted ceiling.
   • 1866, Robert Willis, The Architectural History of Glastonbury Abbey, page 56,

     A handsome flight of steps, extending across the whole from wall to wall, occupied nearly the whole of the eastern severy, and led up from the pavement of this building to the great west door of the church, which terminates the interior eastward, and was designed and built in connection with it.

   • 1968, Paul Frankl, James Francis O'Gorman, Principles of Architectural History: The Four Phases of Architectural Style, 1420-1900, page 64,

     Cylindrical severies would have no place between these arches.

   • 1982, Thomas E. Polk, Saint-Denis, Noyon and the Early Gothic Choir: Methodological Considerations for the History of Early Gothic Architecture, Volume 1, page 42,

     Because the two wall arches of each chapel are not centrally located in relation to the vault severies above them (27), these severies are asymmetrical (Illustrations 16 and 21).

Synonyms

• civery