or Soffit, in Architecture, any timber ceiling formed of cross beams of flying cornices, the square compartments or panels of which are enriched with sculpture, painting, or gilding; such are those in the palaces of Italy, and in the apartments of Luxembourg at Paris.

Soffit, is also used for the underside or face of an architrave; and more particularly for that of the corona or larimier, which the ancients called lacunar, the French plafond, and we usually the drip. It is enriched with compartments of roses; and in the Doric order has eighteen drops, disposed in three ranks, six in each, placed to the right of the guttae, at the bottom of the triglyphs.