in general, any thing belonging to the Dorians, an ancient people of Greece, inhabiting near mount Parnassus. See Doris.

architecture, is the second of the five orders; being that between the Tuscan and Ionic. It is usually placed upon the Attic base, though originally it had no base. See Architecture, no. 43.

At its first invention it was more simple than at present; and when in after-times they came to adorn and enrich it more, the appellation Doric was restrained to this richer manner, and the primitive simple manner they called by a new name, the Tuscan order, which was chiefly used in temples; as the former, being more light and delicate, was for porticos and theatres. The tradition is, that Dorus, king of Achaia, having first built a temple of this order at Argos, which he dedicated to Juno, occasioned it to be called Doric; though others derive its name, from its being invented or used by the Dorians.

The moderns, on account of its solidity, use it in large strong buildings; as in the gates of cities and citadels, the outsides of churches, and other massy works, where delicacy of ornaments would be unsuitable. The gate of Burlington-house in Piccadilly is of the Doric order.

The most considerable antient monuments of this order, are the theatre of Marcellus at Rome; wherein the capital, the height of the frize, and its projection, are much smaller than in the modern architecture; and the Parthenon, or temple of Minerva at Athens, in which the short and massy columns bear upon the pavement without a base; and the capital is a simple torus, with its cincture, and a square, plain, and solid abacus.

Doric Cymatium. See Cyma.