[mod.L., a. Gr. ἔντασις, f. ἐντα-, ἐντείνειν to strain.]
1. Arch. ‘A delicate and almost imperceptible swelling of the shaft of a column’ (Gwilt).
1827. Gentl. Mag., XCVII. II. 605. The very idea of an entasis in the columns.
18[?]. Nat. Encycl., I. 202. They diminish, with an imperceptible entasis.
1866. Felton, Anc. & Mod. Gr., II. viii. 144. The external lines of the columns are carved also, forming a hyperbolic entasis.
† 2. Pathol. ‘Old term for tonic spasm’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.).
1753. in Chambers, Cycl. Supp.
