Bal'cony (till about 1825 BALCO'NY; Ital. balcône), a projecting gallery in front of a window or of several windows, with a balustrade or parapet at its outer edge, and supported by consoles, or brackets fixed in the wall, or by pillars resting on the ground below. The balcony was unknown in Greek and Roman architecture, the earliest examples of it occurring in Italy, to the climate of which country it is peculiarly adapted.
Bal'cony
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 1: A to Beaufort, p. 674
Source scan(s): p. 0701