Arching

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Definitions

1. A structural form that displays a raised, curved outline A motion characterized by a smooth bending or flexing in an upward direction A condition where an object manifests a concave surface raised above a lower section
2. A design featuring a smoothly curved structure supporting weight ; a movement involving bending the body or an object upwards in a graceful curve ; a shape where a surface bows outward forming a raised area
3. A form that presents a bowed shape commonly used in construction ; motion that involves smoothly curving something upward ; the presence of a convex surface elevated above its surroundings

Etymology: The word "arching" is simply the present participle and gerund of the verb "arch", so its story is really the story of the root it is built on. That root reaches English through Old French "arche" (an arch), itself a feminine form of "arc", from Latin "arcus", meaning a bow, arc, or arch. The shape is the same in every case: a bent bow, curved above a space. "Arc" and "arco" are doublets of the word, forms of the same Latin source that entered English by a different route. English also had native words for this idea. Old English "bīeġels" and "hwealf" were displaced by the Latin-derived term, which arrived in Middle English. The verb sense, to curve upward or bend into a bow, grew naturally from the noun, so that a thing that "arches" is shaped like one.

Synonyms: curving, bending, arching

Antonyms: straightening, flattening