[It., lit. baked (cooked) earth:—L. terra cocta. So F. terre cuite.]
1. A hard unglazed pottery of a fine quality, of which decorative tiles and bricks, architectural decorations, statuary, vases, and the like are made.
1722. J. Richardson, Statutes, etc. Italy, 177. A Model in Terra Cotta as fine as ever was done.
1752. Hollis, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 390. Many things in glass, many in terra cotta.
1842–76. Gwilt, Archit., § 624. The west front of the church of Sta. Maria in Strada, a most elaborate work in brick and terra cotta.
1867. W. W. Smyth, Coal & Coal-mining, 190. The Romans have left us numerous examples in bronze and terra cotta.
b. With a and pl.: An object of art, as a statuette or figurine, made of this substance.
1810. T. Combe (title), A Description of the Collection of Ancient Terracottas in the British Museum.
1842. Smith’s Dict. Grk. & Rom. Antiq., s.v. Fictile, They reckoned some of their consecrated terra-cottas … among the safeguards of their imperial city.
1865. Athenæum, 28 Jan., 127/3. The terra-cottas include some very remarkable coloured statuettes or figurine of Greek production.
2. The color of this pottery, a brownish red of various shades.
1882. Daily News, 3 June, 3/1. That colour which the uninitiated would call golden brown, but which milliners call terra-cotta.
1890. Pall Mall G., 25 June, 2/1. The splendid terra-cottas of the rocks and the bright greens of the trees.
1900. Westm. Gaz., 23 April, 3/2. An underdress of pale blue brocade over which is arranged a tunic of terra-cotta.
3. attrib. and Comb. a. Of or pertaining to terra-cotta, as terra-cotta works. b. Made of terra-cotta, as terra-cotta bust, figure, vase; c. Of the color of terra-cotta, as terra-cotta feather, paper, velvet; also terra-cotta tinted adj.
1859. R. Hunt, Guide Mus. Pract. Geol. (ed. 2), 96. Figures … manufactured at the Mill Wall terra cotta works.
1868. Pall Mall G., 2 Dec., 8. Seventy-four terra cotta busts of the Roman Emperors and their families.
1877. W. S. W. Vaux, Grk. Cities Asia Minor, iv. 162–3. In 1853, Mr. Newton obtained many terra-cotta vases of a very archaic type, and other fictile vases from the peasants’ houses of the adjacent village of Kalaverda.
1888. Lady, 25 Oct., 378/1. Trimmings of terra-cotta faced cloth.
1891. Truth, 10 Dec., 1242. All the doorways were draped with terra-cotta silk.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 19 July, 3/1. Roofs … terra-cotta tinted.
