arch

n. vault, upward curve; entrance with a curved top, vaulted doorway

v. make arched, make vaulted, build an arch; be arched, be vaulted

pref. chief, principal

adj. shrewd, cunning, sly; chief, main, principal

An arch is a curved structure capable of spanning a space while supporting significant weight (e.g. a doorway in a stone wall). The arch appeared in Mesopotamia, Indus Valley civilization, Egypt, Assyria, Etruria, and later refined in Ancient Rome. The arch became an important technique in cathedral building and is still used today in some modern structures such as bridges.
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"ARCH" redirects here. For the children's rights organization, see Action on Rights for Children. In econometrics, an autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (ARCH, Engle (1982)) model considers the variance of the current error term to be a function of the variances of the previous time period's error terms. ARCH relates the error variance to the square of a previous period's error. It is employed commonly in modeling financial time series that exhibit time-varying volatility clustering, i.e. periods of swings followed by periods of relative calm.
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architectural, of architecture, of the design of buildings and other structures

architect

(v. t.)
To form or bend into the shape of an arch.
  

(v. t.)
To cover with an arch or arches.
  

(v. i.)
To form into an arch; to curve.
  

(n.)
Usually a curved member made up of separate wedge-shaped solids, with the joints between them disposed in the direction of the radii of the curve; used to support the wall or other weight above an opening. In this sense arches are segmental, round (i. e., semicircular), or pointed.
  

(n.)
Any place covered by an arch; an archway; as, to pass into the arch of a bridge.
  

(n.)
Any part of a curved line.
  

(n.)
Any curvature in the form of an arch; as, the arch of the aorta.
  

(n.)
A flat arch is a member constructed of stones cut into wedges or other shapes so as to support each other without rising in a curve.
  

(n.)
A chief.
  

(a.)
Cunning or sly; sportively mischievous; roguish; as, an arch look, word, lad.
  

(a.)
Chief; eminent; greatest; principal.
  

(a.)
A suffix meaning a ruler, as in monarch (a sole ruler).
  

A prefix signifying chief, as in archbuilder, archfiend.