Cornice. In classical architecture, the top, projecting section of an entablature; also any projecting ornamental moulding along the top of a building, wall, arch, etc., finishing or crowning it. That along the sloping sides of a pediment is called a raking cornice.
-- John Fleming, Hugh Honour & Nikolaus Pevsner, 1991
The Penguin Dictionary of Architecture
Penguin Books, London, England