a boarder or molding immediately above the base or lower paneling of a wainscoted room; also a cornice or series of moldings above the dado of a pedestal, podium, etc.
Surbase (Lat. super, whence the Fr. sur, above or upon, and base), i.e. upper base, the term in architecture applied to what, in the fittings of a room, is called the chair-rail.