easel

[ ee-zuhl ]

noun

1. a stand or frame for supporting or displaying at an angle an artist's canvas, a blackboard, a china plate, etc.
2. Also called masking frame. Photography. a frame, often with adjustable masks, used to hold photographic paper flat and control borders when printing enlargements.

easel

/ ˈiːzəl /

noun

1. a frame, usually in the form of an upright tripod, used for supporting or displaying an artist's canvas, blackboard, etc

Other Words From

• easeled adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of easel¹

1625–35; < Dutch ezel ass, easel (cognate with German Esel, Old English esel ass) < Vulgar Latin *asilus, for Latin asellus, diminutive of asinus ass ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of easel¹

C17: from Dutch ezel ass ¹; related to Gothic asilus, German Esel, Latin asinus ass

Example Sentences

We saw a memorial service on the beach in Santa Monica, mourners slow-motion struggling through the sand in church shoes, making a sign of the cross before a huge portrait propped up on an easel.

From Washington Post

Visiting that studio, which has been kept much as it was, and then walking a short distance to the easels at his favorite viewpoint puts you right there, to see how the light shifts against the rocks of the mountain.

From Washington Post

While none of the original paintings is still in Arles, there is a Van Gogh trail, with easels displaying his most iconic views of that city, where he lived for 15 months and where his exuberance propelled him to just keep on painting — and painting.

From Washington Post

Visiting the asylum, I loved seeing easels along the garden path, showing his best-known landscapes, the views mostly unchanged today.

From Washington Post

This spiritual sequel casts him as a sort of anti-Bob Ross, working away at the table he uses instead of an easel while insisting that not everyone is equipped to be an artist.

From Time

The last drawing, he reveals, will be of Arthur sitting at an easel painting Denison.

From The Daily Beast

On the easel sits a depiction of sun shining through trees, illuminating the grass below.

From The Daily Beast

A photograph showed Bush hunched over an easel in what appears to be a home gym.

From The Daily Beast

I went back to my easel and motioned the model to resume her pose.

From The Daily Beast

While moving a framed canvas from one easel to another my foot slipped on the polished floor, and I fell heavily on both wrists.

From The Daily Beast

As in a trance he crosses the room, seizes charcoal, and feverishly works at the blank canvas on the easel.

From Project Gutenberg

As in a trance he crosses the cell, seizes a piece of charcoal, and feverishly works at the picture on the easel!

From Project Gutenberg

The artist grasped his friend's hand, dragged him off to the studio, uncovered a small easel picture and a portrait.

From Project Gutenberg

If it passed the inspection, he would nod contentedly, trill out a gay refrain, and replace it on the easel for further study.

From Project Gutenberg

A Bayard in society—a Raphael at the easel, he bore a distinguished part in the lionization of the day.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• tripod