egg and dart

a design for enriching an ovolo or echinus, consisting of a closely set, alternating series of oval and pointed forms.

Origin of egg and dart

First recorded in 1870–75

The neckings are worked with the capitals, and enriched by 'egg-and-dart' pointing upwards.

Byzantine Churches in Constantinople |Alexander Van Millingen
It is quite possible that the egg-and-dart pattern may have had a multiple origin.

Evolution in Art |Alfred C. Haddon
An egg-and-dart molding extended all around the casing, where the inner door had once hung.

The Mayor's Wife |Anna Katherine Green
Many ornamental motives, like the zigzag and the egg-and-dart, for example, had originally a symbolic value.

The Gate of Appreciation |Carleton Noyes

It is a pattern, like the egg-and-dart ornament or the Greek key.

Alarms and Discursions |G. K. Chesterton

egg and dart

an ornamental moulding in which a half egg shape alternates with a dart, tongue, or anchor shape
(as modifier)egg-and-dart moulding