Dais 2646133 219600901 2008-06-16T01:03:00Z Alaibot 1324179 Robot: sorting stub (based on existing categorisation) :''For the ''[[Ronin Warriors]]'' character, see [[Dais (Ronin Warriors)]]. [[Desert Senna]] (''Senna covesii'') is locally known as "dais". {{wiktionary}} '''Dais''' ([[French language|French]] ''dais'', estrade, [[Italian language|Italian]] ''predella'') is any raised platform located either within or without a [[room]] or enclosure, often for dignified occupancy, as at the front of a lecture hall or sanctuary. Historically, the dais was a part of the [[floor]] at the end of a [[medieval]] [[Great hall|hall]], raised a step above the rest of the room. On this the [[lord]] of the [[Manor house|manor]] dined with his friends at the high table, apart from the retainers and servants. In medieval halls there was generally a deep recessed [[bay window]] at one or at each end of the dais, supposed to be for retirement or greater privacy than the open hall could afford. In the [[French language]], the word is understood as a [[Baldachin|canopy]] or hanging over a seat; probably the name was an accretion from the seats of great people that were [[:wikt:surmounted|surmounted]] by such a feature. ==In literature== In Sir [[Walter Scott]]'s ''[[Ivanhoe]]'', Cedric the Saxon's hall is described as having a dais, "occupied only by the principal members of the family and visitors of distinction" (Chapter III) ==References== *{{1911}} {{element-arch-stub}} [[Category:Floors]] [[Category:Interior design]] [[fr:Dais]]