ar·a·besque / ˌarəˈbesk/ • n. 1. an ornamental design consisting of intertwined flowing lines, originally found in Arabic or Moorish decoration. ∎  Mus. a passage or composition with fanciful ornamentation of the melody.2. Ballet a posture in which the body is supported on one leg, with the other leg extended horizontally backward.

Arabesque ★★½ 1966

A college professor is drawn into international espionage by a beautiful woman and a plot to assassinate an Arab prince. Stylish and fast moving. From the novel “The Cipher” by Gordon Cotler. 105m/C VHS . Gregory Peck, Sophia Loren, George Coulouris, Alan Badel, Kieron Moore; D: Stanley Donen; M: Henry Mancini.

arabesque. Decorative scroll-work and other ornament loosely derived from branches, leaves, tendrils, and vegetation, inaccurately called Moresque ornament, arranged in imaginatively intertwined symmetrical geometrical patterns. Usually defined as free from human or animal figures, it is quite distinct from grotesque ornament.

Bibliography

Ward-Jackson (1967a)

arabesque (Fr., Eng.), Arabeske (Ger.). A florid element in Arabian architecture, hence a florid melodic section. The term is sometimes applied to a piece of instr. mus. (not always in an appropriate manner) as by Schumann for his pf. piece, Op.18, or by Debussy to his 2 Arabesques for pf.

arabesque an ornamental design consisting of intertwined flowing lines, originally meaning ‘in the Arab style’.