Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PLINTH, n. [Gr. πλινθος, a brick or tile; L. plinthus.]

In architecture, a flat square member in form of a brick, which serves as the foundation of a column; being the flat square table under the molding of the base and pedestal, at the bottom of the order. Vitruvius gives the name to the abacus or upper part of the Tuscan order, from its resemblance to the plinth. Plinth of a statue, is a base, flat, round or square. – Encyc. Plinth of a wall, two or three rows of bricks advanced from the wall in form of a platband; and in general, any flat high molding that serves in a front wall to mark the floors, to sustain the eaves of a wall or the larmier of a chimney. – Encyc.