ORIEL

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. 1. A gallery for minstrels. W. Hamper.
2. 2. A small apartment next a hall, where certain persons were accustomed to dine; a sort of recess. Cowell.
3. 3. (Arch.) A bay window. See Bay window.
The beams that thro' the oriel shine Make prisms in every carven glass. Tennyson. ☞ 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.