Eaves vs. Cornice — What's the Difference?

The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural style, such as the Chinese dougong bracket systems.

In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian cornice meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element – the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the top edge of a pedestal or along the top of an interior wall. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown, as in crown moulding atop an interior wall or above kitchen cabinets or a bookcase.

The part of a roof that meets or overhangs the walls of a building

A horizontal molded projection that crowns or completes a building or wall.

(architectural element) The underside of a roof that extends beyond the external walls of a building.

The uppermost part of an entablature.

(by extension) Something that extends over or projects beyond.

A strip of molding that runs along the upper part of a wall just below the ceiling.

Plural of eave

An ornamental horizontal molding or frame used to conceal rods, picture hooks, or other devices.

The edges or lower borders of the roof of a building, which overhang the walls, and cast off the water that falls on the roof.

An overhanging mass of windblown snow on a ridge or the crest of a mountain.

Brow; ridge.

To supply, decorate, or finish with or as if with a cornice.

Eyelids or eyelashes.

(architectural element) A horizontal architectural element of a building, projecting forward from the main walls, originally used as a means of directing rainwater away from the building's walls.

The overhang at the lower edge of a roof

A decorative element applied at the topmost part of the wall of a room, as with a crown molding.

A decorative element at the topmost portion of certain pieces of furniture, as with a highboy.

An overhanging edge of snow on a ridge or the crest of a mountain and along the sides of gullies.

(transitive) To furnish or decorate with a cornice.

Any horizontal, molded or otherwise decorated projection which crowns or finishes the part to which it is affixed; as, the cornice of an order, pedestal, door, window, or house.

A decorative framework to conceal curtain fixtures at the top of a window casing

A molding at the corner between the ceiling and the top of a wall

The topmost projecting part of an entablature

Furnish with a cornice