Also 8 stocco, stocko. [It.; believed to be ad. the Teut. word represented by OHG. stukki fragment, piece, also crust (mod.G. stück piece = (M)LG., (M)Du. stuk: see STICK sb.). The It. word has been adopted into several European langs.: F. stuc (see STUC), Sp. estuque, estuco, Pg. estuque, G. stuck, Du. stuc (from Fr.), Sw. stuck, Da. stuk.]
1. a. A fine plaster, esp. one composed of gypsum and pulverized marble, used for covering walls, ceilings, and floors, and for making cornices, moldings, and other decorations.
1598. R. Haydocke, trans. Lomazzo’s Art Paint., III. 94. There are yet remayning in Transtevero in Rome, certayne Children … which so perfectly seeme to be made in Stucco, that they haue deceaved even divers good Painters.
1616–7. in Crt. & Times James I. (1848), I. 465. Some heads, whereof, to my remembrance, there was but one of marble, the other of stucco or plaster.
1730. A. Gordon, Maffei’s Amphith. (1735), 305. In Rome … not only have the Remains of ancient Painting been seen, but other genteel Ornaments of Stucco also.
1787. Beckford, Lett. Italy (1805), I. xv. 148. A parcel of naked boys over the doors, in white stucco.
1820. T. S. Hughes, Trav. Sicily, I. iii. 75. The walls of the recesses are covered with a fine stucco, painted upon a vermilion ground with various colours and devices.
1856. Stanley, Sinai & Pal., Introd. 39. Halls and chambers … covered with white stucco, and this white stucco brilliant with colours, fresh as they were thousands of years ago.
1873. E. Spon, Workshop Rec., Ser. I. 390/1. Stucco is a composition of slacked lime, chalk, and pulverized white marble tempered in water, designed to imitate different marbles used in the interior of buildings or [for] monuments.
1884. Encycl. Brit., XVII. 37. Sgraffito.… The wall is covered with a coat of stucco made black…; over this a second very thin coat of white stucco is laid…. The design is produced by cutting and scratching away the white skin.
b. A coarse plaster or calcareous cement used chiefly for covering the rough exterior surfaces of walls in imitation of stone; also called common stucco; spec. the third or last coat of plastering.
Bastard stucco (see quot. 1812). Rough stucco, stucco in which a large proportion of sand is used. Trowelled stucco, stucco set with a trowel to form a surface for painting.
1779. in Repert. Arts & Manuf. (1795), II. 289. My said invention of a water cement, or stucco, for building, repairing, and plastering walls.
1779. Sheridan, Critic, I. ii. Here is … [an article] ‘a Detester of visible Brick-work, in favor of the new invented Stucco’;… in the style of Junius.
1812. P. Nicholson, Mech. Exerc., 306. Bastard Stucco, is three coat plaster,… but the finishing coat contains a little hair besides the sand, it is not hand floated, and the troweling is done with less labour than what is denominated troweled stucco. Ibid., 312. Stucco or Finishing is the third coat of three coat plaster…. Rough stucco is only floated and brushed in a small degree with water: trowelled stucco is accounted the best.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 617. Common stucco, used for external work, consists of clean washed Thames sand and ground Dorking lime.
1862. Miss Braddon, Lady Audley, xxxviii. A great mansion of white stucco.
1870. Thornbury, Tour rd. Eng., I. i. 26. We despise stucco now as false and flimsy.
1876. Encycl. Brit., IV. 507. It may not be amiss here to refer to some of the causes of the premature decay which takes place in stuccoes and cements.
1897. W. Millar, Plastering, iv. 101. The adoption in England of stucco externally to give brick houses the appearance of stone is due to Robert Adam.
fig. 1878. Masque Poets, 261. Behind the stucco of this world’s politeness I find some moral framework not amiss.
c. Plaster of Paris.
1839–. [cf. 3. c].
1868. Roscoe, Elem. Chem. (1869), 32. Fixing a thin piece of stucco on to one end of a glass tube.
1897. W. Millar, Plastering, ii. 35. Gypsum, from which plaster of Paris is made…. In Italy it is known by the name of gesso; in Scotland it is called stucco;… and in the English trade … plaster.
2. The process of ornamenting walls, ceilings, cornices, etc., with stucco; also, work or ornamentation produced by this process.
1697. Evelyn, Numism., viii. 283. John de Udine Inventor or Restorer of the Art of Stucco.
1756. Mrs. Calderwood, in Coltness Collect. (Maitl. Club), 141. The roofs in all the best rooms … are stucko, which was wrought by an Italian.
1782. Pennant, Journ. fr. Chester, 345. The chancel has been very elegantly fitted up with stucco by the late duke.
3. attrib. passing into adj. a. Made of stucco, ornamented with stucco-work.
a. 1744. Pope, Hor. Sat., II. vi. 192. Palladian walls, Venetian doors, Grotesco roofs, and stucco floors.
1756–7. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), I. 83. A stucco cabinet, so curiously wrought as to appear like the finest marble.
1799. Hull Advertiser, 16 Feb., 2/1. With marble chimney-pieces and stucco cornice.
1884. Encycl. Brit., XVII. 37. The Moslem architects … made great use of stucco ornament. Ibid. These stucco reliefs were, as a rule, further decorated with delicate painting.
b. Of a building, etc.: Plastered with stucco in imitation of stone. Of a locality: Abounding in such buildings.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, lx. ‘Gardens’ was a felicitous word not applied to stucco houses with asphalte terraces in front, so early as 1827.
1897. W. Millar, Plastering, i. 33. The brothers Adam introduced into England stucco façades and composition enrichments.
1897. Watts-Dunton, Aylwin, V. ii. After we had left behind us what he called the ‘stucco world’ of the West End.
1898. G. W. E. Russell, Collect. & Recoll., xxiv. 307. Our Ambassador in that city of stucco palaces [Berlin].
c. Of a matrix, ornament: Made of plaster of Paris; plaster.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 631. Gypsum is mixed with water to the consistence of cream, and poured into moulds by the manufacturers of stucco ornaments and statues.
1846. Jrnl. Franklin Inst., Jan., 67. The period varies from ten to twelve hours, liable to the breaking, splitting or warping of the stucco matrices.
1868. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt, i. Her knowledge and accomplishments had become as valueless as old-fashioned stucco ornaments.
4. attrib. and Comb., as stucco paint, plaster (hence plasterer), work (hence worker); instrumental, as stucco-adorned, -fronted, -moulded adjs.; † stucco-paper, ? a wall paper made to resemble stucco.
1864. Reader, 3 Sept., 291/1. No flaunting *stucco-adorned town of yesterday.
1865. Miss A. B. Edwards, Half a Million, lxxxvi. A big *stucco-fronted many-windowed house.
1873. E. Spon, Workshop Rec., Ser. I. 8/2. A frame of plain mouldings is more appropriate … than is a carved or *stucco-moulded frame.
1843. Builder, 12 Aug., 323/1. Patent *Stucco Paint and Patent Stucco Paint Cement.
1750–1. Lady Luxborough, Let. Shenstone, 13 Feb. A common *stucco-paper.
1752. Mrs. Delany, Autobiog. & Corr. (1861), III. 76. I think I should rather hang it with stucco paper.
1744. in Sixth Rep. Dep. Kpr. Publ. Rec., App. II. 121. [Specification for a Lime, *Stucco Plaster, Morter]. Ibid. (1787), 177. [Thomas Henderson, of the City of York, *Stucco Plaisterer].
1686. Aglionby, Painting Illustr., 326. He built himself a House, which he adorned with *Stucco Work. Ibid., 342. A New Pallace, which should be adorned with Stucco-Work paintings in Fresco.
1753. Hanway, Trav., I. II. xxxiv. 232. The rooms are lined with stocco work, painted in the Indian taste.
1908. R. Bagot, A. Cuthbert, iv. 29. The rich carvings of the frieze and … the ornate stucco-work of the ceiling … had been executed in the sixteenth century, from Italian designs.
1897. W. Millar, Plastering, i. 26. During the reign of Henry VIII.,… many Italian *stucco workers found their way into this country.
