in Architecture and Sculpture, &c. an ornament in form of a garland of flowers, fruits, and leaves, intermixed or twisted together.

It is in the form of a string or collar, somewhat bigger in the middle, where it falls down in an arch; being extended by the two ends, the extremities of which hang down perpendicularly.

Festoons are now chiefly used in friezes, and other vacant places which want to be filled up and adorned; being done in imitation of the long clusters of flowers, which the ancients placed on the doors of their temples and houses on festival occasions.