cornice

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
cornice /ˈkɔːnɪs/

▶noun

• 1 an ornamental moulding round the wall of a room just below the ceiling.

  ■ a horizontal moulded projection crowning a building or structure, especially the uppermost member of the entablature of an order, surmounting the frieze.

• 2 an overhanging mass of hardened snow at the edge of a mountain precipice.

– derivatives
corniced adjective,
cornicing noun.

– origin C16: from Fr. corniche, from Ital. cornice, perh. from L. cornix ‘crow’ (cf. corbel), but influenced by Gk korōnis ‘coping stone’.