Dripline

Dripline (Fr. larmier). The dripline is a projecting moulding or tablet placed over the head of a Gothic doorway or window, for the purpose of throwing off the water, whence it is also known as a water-table or weather-moulding. Though such was, no doubt, its primitive use, the dripline latterly became a mere ornamental appendage, which served to enrich and define the outline of the arch, and was applied internally, where it was evidently of no particular use, as well as externally. Ruskin points out that the dripline which forms the upper member of Gothic cornices is one of the chief features which distinguish the style of the rainy north from that of the more sunny south.