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I recently learnt that 'grotesque' is also a noun for an ugly figure or shape. When used in this sense however, it apparently is still not a synonym for gargoyle. Haven't yet found out the difference between the two words. Many here will surely know. Do tell...

Gargoyles and grotesques are both sculptures of fantastic creatures, often frightening or humourous or both. They are both usually made of stone and they both usually are parts of buildings. When a gargoyle or a grotesque combines the parts of several real animals in itself, it is a chimera.

The distinction between gargoyles and grotesques is one of function.

The word gargoyle derives from the French word which derives from a Latin word which pertains to the throat or gullet. It is also connected to the words for gargle. This makes marvelously good sense when one understands that the original purpose of a gargoyle was to direct rainwater away from a building by spurting it out its mouth or other orifice. The sound of the water being so directed could approximate gargling.

If the thingie in question fits the description of a gargoyle in all respects but has nowhere for the rainwater to come out, it is a grotesque. Grotesques sometimes appear on a frieze, a horizontal band of decorated stone around the top of building, which has no water-moving function whatsoever.

Both are particularly useful in the home library where, when placed on bookshelves, they ward off evil spirits, demons and the like ... or, at least, so I tell my long-suffering bride.