O"ri*el (?), n. [OF. oriol
gallery, corridor, LL. oriolum portico, hall, prob. fr. L.
aureolus gilded, applied to an apartment decorated with
gilding. See Oriole.] [Formerly written also oriol,
oryal, oryall.]
1. A gallery for minstrels. [Obs.]
W. Hamper.
2. A small apartment next a hall, where
certain persons were accustomed to dine; a sort of recess.
[Obs.] Cowell.
3. (Arch.) A bay window. See Bay
window.
The beams that thro' the oriel shine
Make prisms in every carven glass.
Tennyson.
&fist; There is no generally admitted difference between a bay
window and an oriel. In the United States the latter name is often
applied to bay windows which are small, and either polygonal or
round; also, to such as are corbeled out from the wall instead of
resting on the ground.
