Dado

Dado (Spanish and Italian dado, a cube, a die, English die), in Architecture, properly the face of a pedestal between its base and its cornice. This part being sometimes coloured or otherwise ornamented, the name has been applied to the lower part of the surface of the inner walls of a room, when ornamented somewhat similarly and contrasting with the upper part. . Thus, a margin or skirting, some three or four feet high, running round the walls and papered, painted, or panelled, or hung with some woven material, is now called a dado, a term rendered familiar by the "aesthetic movement" about 1880.