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The Devil's Dictionary:    

Definition of Gargoyle

Gallows
Gallows
  GARGOYLE   noun
A rain-spout projecting from the eaves of mediaeval buildings, commonly fashioned into a grotesque caricature of some personal enemy of the architect or owner of the building.  This was especially the case in churches and ecclesiastical structures generally, in which the gargoyles presented a perfect rogues' gallery of local heretics and controversialists.  Sometimes when a new dean and chapter were installed the old gargoyles were removed and others substituted having a closer relation to the private animosities of the new incumbents.
 

Devil's Dictionarydefinition from:
The Devil's Dictionary
by Ambrose Bierce, 1911

Garther
Garther
Regular definition:
GARGOYLE:
???:???l n. a grotesque carved human or animal face or figure projecting from the gutter of (esp. a Gothic) building usu. as a spout to carry water clear of a wall. [OF gargouille throat, gargoyle]


Last updated: 9/3/2011 12:48:30